GC1 Participation Regime - sudo

This indicator analyzes COMEX GC1! futures activity and maps it directly onto your XAU price chart, allowing you to see when gold futures participation meaningfully increases or fades - without cluttering your workflow.

Here is the TLDR version of the description (below):
The "regime" is calculated by measuring how active GC1! futures are, compared to their own recent history. On each bar, the indicator looks at two things - volume (how much trading occurred) and true range (how much price actually moved). Each of these is compared to its recent average using a normalized score, which simply answers whether today’s activity is higher, normal, or lower than usual. Those two normalized values are then combined into a single participation score, optionally smoothed to reduce noise. That score is compared against user-defined thresholds and classified into one of four regimes - Low, Normal, High, or Extreme participation. In short, the regime shows whether current GC1! futures activity is unusually quiet or unusually active relative to its own recent behavior, without making any directional assumptions.

What this indicator does

-Measures GC1! futures volume and true range relative to their own historical behavior using z-scores
-Combines those metrics into a single participation score
-Classifies the market into four participation regimes

Low
Normal
High
Extreme

Projects those regimes directly onto the XAU price chart

Visual elements

Background shading
-Gray - Low participation
-Blue - Normal participation
-Green - High participation
-Orange - Extreme participation

Regime shift markers

-Upward triangle below price when participation increases
-Downward triangle above price when participation decreases

Volume-informed candle coloring (optional)
-High GC volume + bullish candle
-High GC volume + bearish candle
-Low GC volume + bullish candle
-Low GC volume + bearish candle

These visuals help you instantly identify whether price movement is occurring with real futures participation or during thinner conditions.

How to use it

-Identify high-quality environments for execution when participation is elevated
-Filter breakouts, trends, and reversals based on whether GC futures are involved
-Avoid overconfidence during low-participation regimes, where price moves are more prone to failure
-Use regime transitions as context, not signals!!
-This indicator is designed to be contextual, not predictive.

Customization

-Adjustable lookback lengths for volume and range
-Fully tunable regime thresholds
-Optional background shading
-Optional regime shift markers
-Optional candle recoloring based on GC volume behavior

Everything can be dialed up or down depending on how visually minimal you want your chart to be.

Notes

-Built specifically around COMEX GC1! futures
-Designed to disappear if GC data is unavailable
-Works on all intraday and higher timeframes