ADXR (Average Directional Movement Rating): what it adds

The Average Directional Movement Rating (ADXR) is the smoothest member of J. Welles Wilder's directional movement family. It is simply the average of today's ADX and the ADX from a fixed number of bars ago. Wilder introduced it in 1978 for a specific job: ranking commodity markets by how strongly they trend, so that a trader with limited capital could put trend-following systems on the markets most likely to reward them.

Today ADXR is mostly used alongside the ADX on a single chart. Because it lags the ADX, the two lines cross when trend strength changes direction, and the gap between them shows whether strength is building or fading. This guide shows the one-line formula with a real Chevron calculation, follows Chevron's two-year chart through a strong trend and a dead calm, and explains where ADXR's extra smoothing helps and where it simply delays.

Why average the ADX with an older ADX?

The ADX is already smooth, but it still wobbles. Wilder wanted a steadier rating of a market's trendiness over roughly a month, to compare markets against each other. Averaging the current ADX with the ADX of about two weeks earlier does that cheaply. A market whose ADX has been high for weeks gets a high rating; one whose ADX spiked only in the last few days gets a more modest one.

The same averaging makes the ADXR a lagging copy of the ADX. When ADX rises, ADXR rises later and less; when ADX falls, ADXR falls later. That lag is what makes the crossing of the two lines informative.

The formula

Some references describe the older value as "n bars ago." TA-Lib, which Finabase uses, takes the ADX from n − 1 bars ago. The worked example below confirms this against Finabase's own values.

A worked example on Chevron

On February 11, 2026 Chevron's ADX (14) was 57.12. Thirteen sessions earlier, on January 23, it was 36.90.

Finabase's ADXR (14) for that day is 47.01. Because ADX had climbed 20 points in 13 sessions, the ADXR sat 10 points below it, a picture of a trend gaining strength quickly.

ADXR on a real chart: Chevron 2024–2026

Chevron rose from $148.05 at the end of October 2024 to $231.46 two years later, but most of that gain came in two bursts. The ADX and ADXR show the phases clearly.

The highest ADXR of the two years, 51.9, came on March 3, 2026, with Chevron at $188.77 during a run from about $152 at the start of the year to $207 at the end of March. The ADX had peaked a few weeks earlier at 57.9 on February 13. The ADXR peak came later, as it always does, because it still contained the high ADX readings from two weeks before.

Note the June 2026 row. Strength was rising, ADX above ADXR, but Chevron was falling: from $206.90 at the end of March to $165.76 at the end of June. Like the ADX, the ADXR is direction-blind. A rising ADXR in a falling market describes a strengthening downtrend.

Over the two years, the ADX crossed the ADXR 27 times, and the ADXR changed direction 75 times against the ADX's 87. The extra smoothing is real but modest.

How traders use ADXR

Ranking markets. Wilder's original use, and still a sensible one: among a list of candidates, prefer trend-following systems on those with the highest ADXR, because their strength has persisted rather than spiked.

ADX versus ADXR. ADX crossing above ADXR says trend strength has turned up; crossing below says it has turned down. Some traders use the cross as a timing aid for a trend system, entering when strength is rising and tightening stops when it is falling.

A smoother regime filter. Using ADXR instead of ADX as the "is there a trend?" filter (for example, above 25) reduces how often the filter flips on and off.

Commodity Selection Index. Wilder combined ADXR with the ATR, a market's price and its margin requirement in his Commodity Selection Index, a measure of which futures markets offered the most trend per dollar of margin. It is rarely used today, but it explains why the ADXR exists.

Pitfalls and limitations

More lag. ADXR responds to a change in trend strength about a week later than the ADX on a 14-period setting. When speed matters, it is the wrong tool.

Direction-blind. As the June 2026 Chevron example shows, a rising ADXR can accompany a falling price.

Crossings in calm markets are noise. When both lines are below 20, ADX–ADXR crossings mean little; neither line is saying there is a trend.

Comparison with ADX and DX

See Average Directional Index (ADX): measuring trend strength for reading ADX levels and Directional Movement Index (DX, +DI, −DI): a hand calculation for the raw DX and DI calculation.

How Finabase calculates and scores ADXR

Finabase computes ADXR with TA-Lib's ADXR function on each bar's high, low and close. A new ADXR study defaults to 14 periods and is drawn in its own panel below the price chart. Add an ADX of the same period to the same chart to read the crossings described above.

ADXR (14) is listed in the technical gauge with its latest value and carries no Buy or Sell rule, so it always counts as neutral. It measures how persistently a market has trended, in either direction, which cannot be scored as bullish or bearish by itself.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between ADX and ADXR?

ADXR is the average of the current ADX and the ADX from 13 bars earlier (with the default 14 periods). It is smoother and later than the ADX and measures the same thing: trend strength.

What does it mean when ADX crosses above ADXR?

Trend strength has started rising, because today's ADX is higher than the average of itself and its value two weeks ago. It does not say which way the trend points.

What is a good ADXR value?

The same conventions as the ADX apply: above 25 suggests a trending market, below 20 a ranging one. Because it is smoother, ADXR crosses those levels less often.

Summary

The ADXR averages the ADX with its own value of 13 bars earlier, giving a steadier, later rating of trend strength. Chevron's two years show it confirming a powerful early-2026 trend with a 51.9 peak, sitting near 11 in the calm before it, and rising in a decline as readily as in a rally. Use it to rank markets and to judge whether trend strength is building or fading, not to time entries.