BOT START SIGNAL

Williams Alligator Indicator

Williams Alligator is Bill Williams' trend indicator built from three smoothed lines: Jaws, Teeth, and Lips. In the ELIXOAI start signal builder you get the williams_alligator_lips_teeth preset: Lips cross above Teeth. Parameters 13/8/5, offsets 8/5/3, operators, and 12+ strategy examples explained.

Updated 9 min read
Williams Alligator indicator with Jaws, Teeth, and Lips lines on a cryptocurrency chart
The three Alligator lines reveal market phase: intertwined lines mean a sleeping alligator in a range; spreading lines mean an eating alligator in a trend.

The Start Bots Signal category describes signals and indicators that can start a trading bot. One of the technical indicators is Williams Alligator.

When creating or editing any bot, there is a Start signal builder block at the bottom of settings. You can choose individual indicators, ready-made presets, and their combinations. Conditions are grouped: AND inside a group, OR between groups. The same indicator can be configured in different ways - for Long and Short, for breakouts and bounces, for level comparisons and for crosses.

What is Williams Alligator

Williams Alligator is Bill Williams' trend indicator from his Chaos Theory toolkit. It consists of three smoothed moving averages (SMMA), shifted forward in time: Jaws (the slowest line), Teeth (medium), and Lips (fastest). The alligator metaphor: the market is sleeping when lines intertwine, and eating when they spread apart and price moves with the trend.

Unlike a single EMA, Alligator provides three trend filter levels with different reaction speeds. Lips reacts first, Teeth confirms, Jaws shows the trend backbone. In the ELIXOAI start signal builder, Alligator is used as an automatic bot start condition - when lines cross or align in bullish/bearish order.

Alligator separates ranging phases from directional moves well. In a range, lines stay close and cross often - signals are weak. In a trend, Lips pull away from Jaws and price stays on the correct side of the jaws. Traders often combine it with filters (EMA, RSI, Supertrend) to avoid starting bots in a sleeping market.

Sleeping vs eating alligator

Bill Williams described the market through three alligator phases:

  • Sleeping alligator: Jaws, Teeth, and Lips intertwine, nearly flat. The market consolidates, volatility is low, direction unclear. Lips/Teeth crosses produce many false signals - avoid bot starts or add a strict filter.
  • Eating alligator: lines spread apart. In uptrend, bottom to top: Jaws < Teeth < Lips, price above Lips. In downtrend: Lips < Teeth < Jaws, price below Lips. A strong trend means the alligator is feeding.
  • Awakening: transition from sleep to eating - Lips crosses Teeth (default preset). Early signal that impulse is leaving the range. For Long - Lips cross up Teeth; for Short - Lips cross down Teeth.

Alligator vs EMA and Supertrend

All three tools help identify trend, but differently:

  • EMA - one line, fast price reaction. Alligator - three SMMAs with different periods and offsets; slower but better noise filter, shows trend structure through line divergence.
  • Supertrend - one dynamic ATR-based line, clear Long/Short. Alligator does not give ready direction - you compare three lines with each other and price. Supertrend is simpler for binary filters; Alligator for market phases.
  • Williams Alligator is unique with its phase metaphor and three outputs (valueJaws, valueTeeth, valueLips). Build conditions like «Lips > Teeth > Jaws» (bullish order) or Lips/Teeth crosses for early entry. Lags more than one EMA but fewer range false signals when interpreted correctly.

How Alligator works

Each line is a smoothed moving average (SMMA) of median price with its own period and forward offset:

  • Jaws: SMMA with jawsLength (default 13), jawsOffset (8 bars). Slowest line - the alligator backbone, main trend context.
  • Teeth: SMMA with teethLength (8), teethOffset (5). Middle line - intermediate confirmation between Lips and Jaws.
  • Lips: SMMA with lipsLength (5), lipsOffset (3). Fastest line - first to react to impulse shifts, used in cross up/down Teeth preset.

In the builder you set a comparison condition between outputs or a number: «valueLips crosses valueTeeth up,» «valueLips > valueJaws,» etc. The system fetches live values via TAAPI and checks on your timeframe - at bar close or every minute.

Three Alligator outputs

The builder exposes three numeric outputs - each line level on the current candle:

  • valueJaws - Jaws line. Compare with Teeth, Lips, or price for feeding uptrend filter: price and Lips above Jaws.
  • valueTeeth - Teeth line. Central anchor: in the Lips cross Teeth preset, Teeth is the cross target.
  • valueLips - Lips line. Main output of williams_alligator_lips_teeth preset - most sensitive for early awakening signals.

Conditions compare two outputs (cross up/down, gt/lt) or output vs fixed number. Bullish order: valueLips > valueTeeth > valueJaws. Bearish: valueLips < valueTeeth < valueJaws.

Alligator parameters

  • jawsLength - SMMA period for Jaws. Range 1–300, default 13. Higher - slower jaws, less frequent phase shifts.
  • teethLength - SMMA period for Teeth. Range 1–300, default 8.
  • lipsLength - SMMA period for Lips. Range 1–300, default 5. Lower - faster lips, more noise.
  • jawsOffset - Jaws forward offset. Range 0–100, default 8 bars.
  • teethOffset - Teeth offset. Range 0–100, default 5.
  • lipsOffset - Lips offset. Range 0–100, default 3. Offsets visually shift lines forward on the chart.

Classic 13/8/5 and offsets 8/5/3 - Bill Williams standard for 15m–1h. On 5m you may shorten periods (8/5/3); on 4h keep defaults or slightly increase jawsLength. Alligator(13,8,5) on 15m and 4h are different indicators.

Ready-made presets in the builder

The builder offers one Williams Alligator preset with default settings. Fully customizable: different operator, line comparison, parameters, or timeframe.

Lips cross up Teeth - alligator awakening (williams_alligator_lips_teeth)

Default condition: valueLips crosses valueTeeth from below to above (cross up) on 15m, parameters 13/8/5, offsets 8/5/3, check at bar close.

Long signal on early awakening: fast Lips overtakes Teeth - impulse leaving consolidation. Unlike «Lips > Teeth,» the cross captures the transition moment. For Short, operator «crosses below» - Lips cross down Teeth. Stronger when Lips > Jaws or price above Teeth simultaneously.

Available operators
  • Crosses above (cross up): valueLips was below valueTeeth and moved above. Preset classic - early Long on alligator awakening.
  • Crosses below (cross down): valueLips was above valueTeeth and dropped below. Short signal - bearish awakening, Lips below Teeth.
  • Greater than (gt): valueLips strictly above valueTeeth now. Feeding bullish alligator filter without requiring fresh cross.
  • Less than (lt): valueLips strictly below valueTeeth. Bearish line order, useful for Short filters.
  • Greater or equal (gte): valueLips at or above valueTeeth. Handy for higher-TF filter: Lips ≥ Teeth on 4h.
  • Less or equal (lte): valueLips at or below valueTeeth. Bearish context: Lips ≤ Teeth on 4h.
Line comparisons

Beyond Lips/Teeth, compare any pairs: Lips cross up Jaws (strong bullish), Teeth gt Jaws (trend confirmation), bearish order via separate gt/lt conditions. Bullish feeding mode: Lips > Teeth > Jaws and price above Lips.

General builder settings

  • Timeframe (interval): 1m, 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 4h, 1d. Shorter intervals give more signals but more noise. Swing bots often use 1h–4h; scalping uses 5m–15m.
  • Check mode: At candle close checks after the candle closes - fewer false triggers. Every minute checks inside the current candle - faster reaction, higher false-start risk.
  • Operator: greater than, less than, crosses above, crosses below, greater or equal, and others define how the indicator value is compared to the target.
  • Target value: a number (e.g. 30 for RSI), an indicator line (e.g. %D for Stochastic), or price (for Bollinger Bands).
  • Condition groups: up to 3 groups with up to 5 conditions each. Example: group 1 - RSI < 30 AND price < lower band; group 2 - Stochastic < 20. The bot starts if group 1 OR group 2 is satisfied.

Setup examples for different strategies

Preset trend: Lips cross up Teeth on 15m

Goal: bot start on alligator awakening.
Long: williams_alligator_lips_teeth preset, valueLips cross up valueTeeth, 15m, 13/8/5, check at close.
Short: cross down Teeth, same settings.
Filter: add valueLips > valueJaws - fewer signals in sleeping market.

Feeding bullish alligator

Goal: Long only in clear uptrend.
Group 1: valueLips gt valueTeeth on 15m AND valueTeeth gt valueJaws on 15m AND close above valueLips.
Logic: three lines in bullish order, price rides the lips - alligator feeding upward.

Feeding bearish alligator

Goal: Short in downtrend.
Group 1: valueLips lt valueTeeth AND valueTeeth lt valueJaws on 15m AND price below valueLips.
Alternative: Lips cross down Teeth AND Lips lt Jaws - early and confirmed bearish signal.

Scalping: fast parameters on 5m

Long: Lips cross up Teeth on 5m, jawsLength 8, teethLength 5, lipsLength 3, offsets 5/3/2, check at close.
Short: cross down Teeth.
Filter: valueLips gt valueJaws on 15m - impulse only with higher context. More crosses in sleeping market on 5m.

Swing: Alligator on 1h–4h

Long: Lips cross up Teeth on 4h, default 13/8/5, check at close - rare but meaningful starts on phase change.
Short: cross down on 4h.
Higher TF lines intertwine less - fewer false awakenings, later entry.

Alligator + EMA

Long: Lips cross up Teeth on 15m AND price cross up EMA 50 on 1h.
Short: Lips cross down Teeth AND price below EMA 50 on 1h.
Higher-TF EMA blocks awakenings against global trend.

Price vs Jaws

Long: close cross up valueJaws on 15m AND Lips gt Teeth on same 15m.
Short: price cross down Jaws AND Lips lt Teeth.
Logic: price exits the alligator mouth, Lips confirm direction.

Alligator + RSI

Long: Lips cross up Teeth on 15m AND RSI cross up 40 on 15m (or RSI < 50 after pullback).
Short: Lips cross down Teeth AND RSI > 60.
RSI filters awakenings in overbought/oversold zones.

Multi-timeframe

Long: valueLips gte valueTeeth on 4h (separate condition) AND Lips cross up Teeth on 15m.
Short: Lips ≤ Teeth on 4h AND cross down Teeth on 15m.
Higher TF shows feeding alligator, lower TF catches entry.

DCA on trend pullback

Long: valueLips gt valueJaws on 4h AND Lips cross up Teeth on 1h after correction.
Short: Lips lt Jaws on 4h AND cross down Teeth on 1h.
For DCA bots, cross up is softer than strict «Lips gt Teeth gt Jaws» - catches resumption after pullback.

Alligator + Supertrend

Long: Lips cross up Teeth on 15m AND Supertrend valueAdvice = Long on 1h.
Short: cross down Teeth AND Supertrend Short on 1h.
Alligator gives early impulse, Supertrend confirms trend direction.

Condition groups: practical example

Bot with two Long scenarios:
Group 1: Lips cross up Teeth on 15m AND Lips gt Jaws - awakening with confirmation.
Group 2: Lips gt Teeth gt Jaws on 1h AND price gt Lips on 15m - feeding alligator, entry on pullback to lips.
Groups combined with OR. Configure Short symmetrically (cross down, Lips lt Teeth lt Jaws).

Tip
In a sleeping market Alligator lines cross constantly - Lips cross Teeth triggers often and produces false bot starts. Check line divergence before starting: Lips gt Teeth gt Jaws for Long, or add a higher-timeframe filter. Do not trade Alligator alone in ranges - combine with EMA, Supertrend, or price vs Jaws. Use check at bar close to ignore intrabar noise.