CCI (Commodity Channel Index): measuring deviation from the mean
The CCI calculation including Lambert’s 0.015 constant, what the ±100 levels actually represent, and how to use it on trends rather than against them.
Commodity Channel Index is free on Basis — the button opens a live crypto chart with it already applied. No account, no trial and no limit on how many indicators you add.
Open the chartWhat it measures
CCI measures how far the typical price has moved from its own moving average, scaled by how far it usually moves. It is a standardised distance-from-mean, which is why it is unbounded.
The scaling constant is chosen so that roughly seventy to eighty percent of readings fall between −100 and +100, which is what makes those levels meaningful rather than arbitrary.
It uses mean absolute deviation rather than standard deviation, which makes it less sensitive to a single outlier bar than a standard-deviation measure would be. On crypto, where one liquidation cascade can dominate a window, that is a meaningful difference rather than a technicality.
How it is calculated
These are the steps Basis performs, verified against the published definition.
- 1
Compute the typical price for each bar — the average of high, low and close.
- 2
Take a simple moving average of typical price over the period.
- 3
Compute the mean absolute deviation of typical price from that average over the same window.
- 4
Divide the difference between typical price and its average by 0.015 times the mean deviation.
Settings
| Setting | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 20 | 1 – 500 |
Twenty periods is standard. Shorter settings make the extremes far more frequent and are usually paired with wider thresholds than ±100, since the constant was calibrated for a longer window and stops putting the levels where the convention expects them once the period drops much below it.
How to read it
- Readings beyond ±100 mean price has moved unusually far from its recent mean. In a trend, that is where the trend is working, not where it is ending.
- A move from below −100 back up through it is a common reversal trigger inside a range.
- Because it is unbounded, extreme readings on crypto can reach several hundred without meaning anything more than very high volatility.
- Sustained readings above +100 are a trend signature, not an overbought one — the original method traded them as entries rather than as exits.
Where it misleads
The 0.015 is Lambert’s constant and it is what puts the ±100 levels where the convention expects them. Mistyping it — 0.15 instead of 0.015 — divides every reading by ten and produces an indicator that never leaves the middle of its range while looking entirely plausible. It is also mean *absolute* deviation, not standard deviation; substituting the latter changes the scaling and moves the levels.
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Updated 2026-08-22 · Educational reference, not financial advice.