HOW-TO: Find the most volatile hours to trade gold (XAUUSD)GoldOANDA:XAUUSDZynAlgoHourly Volatility Heatmap is an open-source TradingView indicator that ranks the 24 hours of the day by real range and by how often each hour sets the day's high or low, then only allows sweep-and-reject reversal markers inside the hottest hours. This HOW-TO shows how to read the heat table on gold (XAUUSD, 15m) and how to use it as a time filter. It is a tutorial that adds to the script description, not a trade call. 1. What the heat table tells you The table in the top-right corner is built from the last 30 completed days (Lookback Days). For every hour it records three things: Avg. Vol: the average high-to-low range of each bar in that hour, in points. On OANDA:XAUUSD one point is 0.001, so 11,539 pts means about 11.5 of price per 15m bar. Reversal %: how often that hour held the day's high or low. Bull Bias: the share of hourly candles in that slot that closed above their open. Avg. Vol and Reversal % are each scaled 0-100 against the best hour and averaged into one Hot Hour score. That score colours the 24 cells (navy = quiet, amber = medium, red = hot) and ranks the TOP 5 list. The yellow line on top names the volatility peak and the reversal peak in your timezone. Common mistake: a red cell is not a direction. Heat measures activity and turning points. The only directional input is the Bull Bias column, and it gates signals rather than forecasting. Chart of this idea: XAUUSD 15m. The heat table, two Buy markers inside the #1 and #2 hot hours, and the Sell mirror case. Trade Mode is off, so only markers and reasons are shown. 2. How a marker is built (read it on the chart above) Take the Buy on the right side of the chart, in the 01:00 UTC hour (#2 in the table): 01:00 UTC is one of the Top 5 hot hours, so signals are allowed. The 01:15 bar trades below the lowest low of the previous 5 bars (Swing Length) and closes above its own open. The low was swept and rejected. Bull Bias for that hour is at or above 50%, so a Buy passes the bias filter. RSI on the sweep bar is higher than it was on the bar that made the swept low, a bullish divergence. The marker prints on the next bar. That bar's open is the entry reference and the sweep-bar low is the stop reference (red dashed line). Hover any marker to read the reason in plain words, for example: "Buy: 01:00 (UTC) is a Top 5 hot hour. (Bias Check: 60% Bullish) Price made a 5-bar low and rejected." The Sell is the mirror image: a hot hour, the 5-bar high is swept, the candle closes back below its open, Bull Bias at or below 50%, and RSI fails to confirm the new high. Post-factum note: after the 01:00 UTC Buy, price rose to about 4,052 during the marker bar and then gave part of it back. A marker is a well-timed candidate, not a promise. Your own exit plan decides the result. 3. Why the ranking can change from day to day The statistics are rebuilt at the start of every new day. A marker that printed yesterday in an hour that is not in today's Top 5 was valid under yesterday's ranking. The Sell at 20:00 UTC on the chart is an example. Use a longer Lookback Days for a steadier ranking, or a shorter one to adapt faster. 4. Settings (defaults) Enable Trade Mode: off. Markers and reasons only. When on, it adds a risk/reward box, a trailing stop and tracking rows. Timezone (UTC Offset): UTC. Set it to your own clock so the hours match your day. Lookback Days: 30 (5 to 100) Hot Hours Filter (Top N by combined score): 5. Only the top N hours may signal. Swing Length (bars): 5. Size of the high or low that must be swept. Enable Directional Bias Filter: on Enable RSI Divergence Filter: on. RSI Length: 14 UI Text Size (chart + dashboard): Small. Large was used for this chart. TP1 / TP2 / TP3 (R): 1.0 / 2.0 / 3.0. Enable TP2 and Enable TP3: on (Trade Mode only) Max Trade Duration (Bars): 200. Max Stored Trade Records: 30 Stability Mode: on. Smart Signal Filter: off. Cooldown (Bars): 5 Dashboard Position: Top Right 5. How to use it in practice Load it on the symbol you trade with an intraday timeframe (1h or lower) and set your timezone first. Read the TOP 5 list as your trading window. If your own setups often fail in the quiet hours, this shows which hours to skip. Treat a marker as a reason to look, not an order. Check it against your higher-timeframe structure and planned risk. Raise Hot Hours Filter for more markers or lower it for fewer. Turning off the bias or the RSI filter also gives more markers with less confirmation. Alerts: the Buy and Sell alert conditions fire on the sweep bar, so you can wait for the hot hour without watching the screen. Best for Intraday traders on gold, forex majors, indices and crypto who already trade liquidity sweeps or reversals and want a data-based answer to "which hours actually move this market?". Educational HOW-TO, not financial advice. Hour statistics change, signals can fail, and no indicator removes market risk. Use your own stop placement and position size.