Keltner Channels
Calculate the Keltner Channels for a given price series.
The Keltner Channels consist of three lines: a middle line, the Exponential Moving Average (EMA) of the closing prices, and an upper and a lower line a multiple of the Average True Range (ATR) above and below it.
The formula is as follows:
\[\text{Middle Line} = \operatorname{EMA}(\text{Close},\; \text{window})\] \[\text{Upper Line} = \text{Middle Line} + \text{atr\_multiplier} \cdot \operatorname{ATR}(\text{atr\_window})\] \[\text{Lower Line} = \text{Middle Line} - \text{atr\_multiplier} \cdot \operatorname{ATR}(\text{atr\_window}),\;\; \text{where the ATR uses Wilder's smoothing}\]Also known as: ATR-based bands, volatility channels.
Keltner Channels in Python or via the MCP
Install the Finance Toolkit with:
pip install financetoolkit -U
Then call get_keltner_channels as shown below.
from financetoolkit import Toolkit
toolkit = Toolkit(
tickers=["^GDAXI"],
api_key="FINANCIAL_MODELING_PREP_KEY",
start_date="2021-01-01",
end_date="2025-12-31",
)
toolkit.technicals.get_keltner_channels().xs("^GDAXI", level=1, axis="columns").tail(5)
Or, after setting up the Finance Toolkit MCP, ask:
Where were the Keltner Channels of the DAX from 24 to 31 December 2025?
Which returns:
| Date | Lower Line | Middle Line | Upper Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-24 | 23674 | 24088.6 | 24503.2 |
| 2025-12-26 | 23715.1 | 24113.2 | 24511.4 |
| 2025-12-29 | 23750.5 | 24135.9 | 24521.3 |
| 2025-12-30 | 23782.9 | 24169.6 | 24556.4 |
| 2025-12-31 | 23782.9 | 24169.6 | 24556.4 |
Parameters
get_keltner_channels accepts the following parameters.
| Parameter | Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
period | str | The time period to consider for historical data. Can be “intraday”, “daily”, “weekly”, “monthly”, “quarterly” or “yearly”. Defaults to “daily”. | "weekly" |
close_column | str | The column name for closing prices in the historical data. Defaults to “Adj Close”, in which case the open, high and low prices are adjusted for dividends in the same way. | "Close" |
window | int | Number of periods for the Exponential Moving Average (the middle line). Defaults to 20, as on StockCharts. | 20 |
atr_window | int | Number of periods for ATR calculation. Defaults to 10, as on StockCharts. | 10 |
atr_multiplier | float | Multiplier for ATR to determine channel width. Defaults to 2. | 3 |
rounding | int | None | The number of decimals to round the results to. Defaults to None, which uses the rounding of the Toolkit (4 unless set otherwise). | 2 |
growth | bool | Whether to calculate the growth of the channels. Defaults to False. | True |
lag | int | list[int] | The lag to use for the growth calculation. Defaults to 1. | 4 |
standardize | bool | Whether to standardize (Z-Score) the result. When combined with growth=True, standardizes the growth values instead of the raw values. Defaults to False. | True |