Alligator (Williams Alligator)

The Williams Alligator, developed by Bill Williams, is a trend indicator consisting of three smoothed moving averages (SMMA) shifted forward in time. The three lines represent the Jaw, Teeth, and Lips of the alligator metaphor: when the lines are intertwined, the alligator is "sleeping" (no trend); when they separate, it is "eating" (trending).

Jaw   = SMMA(13) shifted 8 bars forward  — "Blue line"
Teeth = SMMA(8) shifted 5 bars forward   — "Red line"
Lips  = SMMA(5) shifted 3 bars forward   — "Green line"

The forward shift means these values are plotted into the future, providing a visual lead on trend development.

• Three time dimensions — Jaw (long-term), Teeth (medium-term), Lips (short-term).
• Visual metaphor — sleeping (converged) vs. eating (diverged) makes trend state intuitive.
• Built-in forward shift — lines are displaced forward for anticipatory analysis.
• Developed by Bill Williams — part of the Profitunity trading system.

Alligator sleeping

• All three lines intertwined — market is range-bound. Avoid trading.

Alligator waking up

• Lines begin to separate — new trend starting.

Strong uptrend

• Lips (green) > Teeth (red) > Jaw (blue) — all three properly ordered.
• Price above all three lines.

Strong downtrend

• Lips < Teeth < Jaw — inverse order.
• Price below all three lines.

The Alligator uses fixed internal parameters:

| Line | SMMA Period | Forward Shift | |------|-------------|---------------| | Jaw | 13 | 8 bars | | Teeth | 8 | 5 bars | | Lips | 5 | 3 bars |

| Component | Description | |-----------|-------------| | ALLIGATOR_JAW | Blue line — SMMA(13, shift 8) | | ALLIGATOR_TEETH | Red line — SMMA(8, shift 5) | | ALLIGATOR_LIPS | Green line — SMMA(5, shift 3) |

| Condition | Meaning | |-----------|---------| | close > ALLIGATOR_JAW | Price above the Jaw — above long-term trend | | ALLIGATOR_LIPS cross_over ALLIGATOR_TEETH | Lips crosses Teeth — bullish signal | | ALLIGATOR_LIPS > ALLIGATOR_TEETH | Lips above Teeth — short-term bullish | | ALLIGATOR_TEETH > ALLIGATOR_JAW | Teeth above Jaw — medium-term bullish |

• The Alligator is best combined with Bill Williams' other indicators (Fractals, AO, AC).
• Wait for all three lines to be properly ordered before entering a trade.
• When lines are tangled (sleeping), use this as a no-trade zone filter.
• The longer the alligator sleeps, the hungrier it wakes up — expect stronger breakouts after extended consolidations.