Install both DLLs and add the indicators
Run Install.ps1 with ATAS closed, then add Cival Manipulation and Cival Pressure Toolkit by exact name. A CIVAL MANIPULATION panel appears top-right and a Cival Pressure Toolkit panel top-left.
Cival Manipulation & Pressure Toolkit
Two ATAS indicators: Manipulation maps range, sweep, reclaim and expansion; Pressure Toolkit marks row pressure, wick candidates and prints.
What this guide covers
The platform ports in the ports folder are source software; the ATAS plugins themselves are compiled DLLs. Readings describe executed order flow and price action only and are not trading advice, a forecast or certification for automated execution. Trading futures and crypto involves substantial risk of loss; test on replay or a simulated account first.
Both describe executed order flow and price after the fact; neither knows who trades, where stops sit or what happens next. Absorption is only a candidate, evidence points are a checklist rather than a probability, and the Pressure Toolkit supplies no invalidation, stop or target.
Before you start
- ATAS Platform 8.0.15 or newer on Windows (the .NET 10 runtime ships with ATAS)
- Cival Manipulation: candle data; footprint (bid/ask per price) is used when present and is required only for the RequireCompleteDelta mode
- Cival Pressure Toolkit: footprint data for pressure bubbles and wick candidates, individual trade history for big prints, a live depth feed for resting-depth bars
- Correct instrument tick size in ATAS; about 15 completed bars for Manipulation and 21 footprint bars for the first Pressure Toolkit reading
- Close ATAS before installing or updating
Purchase and download
- Sign in to the account used at checkout. Open Account and locate the confirmed order. If payment is processing, wait for fulfillment rather than buying again.
- Generate a fresh product Download link. Save the ZIP, receipt, release version and checksum. Expired links can be regenerated from the account.
Windows: Get-FileHash .\your-download.zip -Algorithm SHA256. Linux: sha256sum your-download.zip. macOS: shasum -a 256 your-download.zip.
Install Cival Manipulation & Pressure Toolkit
- Close ATAS completely and extract the downloaded ZIP to an ordinary folder.
- Optionally verify the DLL hashes with Get-FileHash against SHA256SUMS.txt.
- Run .\ATAS\Install.ps1 from the extracted folder in PowerShell; it installs both DLLs into %APPDATA%\ATAS\Indicators, backs up same-named DLLs and verifies each SHA-256.
- Start ATAS, open a chart and add Cival Manipulation and Cival Pressure Toolkit from the indicator list (search the exact names).
- Set Minimum aggressive row volume in the Pressure Toolkit for your instrument's volume units before judging its output.
PowerShell, from the extracted release folder
Get-FileHash .\ATAS\Cival.Manipulation.dll -Algorithm SHA256
Get-FileHash .\ATAS\Cival.PressureToolkit.dll -Algorithm SHA256
Get-Content .\SHA256SUMS.txt | Select-String 'ATAS/Cival'
.\ATAS\Install.ps1How the indicator works
Cival Manipulation watches closed candles for a compressed 12-bar range, a one-sided sweep of one boundary, a closed-price reclaim and a later directional expansion, scoring an 11-item evidence checklist and drawing invalidation, 1R and 2R reference prices. Each phase is confirmed only when its candle closes; there is no live preview. Cival Pressure Toolkit reads footprint rows for pressure bubbles (one side at least 3 times the other at the same price), marks wick rows as absorption candidates with until-touch lines, and adds big individual prints, live resting-depth bars and round-number lines.
Exact shipped defaults
These defaults are a starting point for comparison, not recommended trading parameters or a loss limit. Candle counts depend on the interval. Refer to the shipped source for validation rules before changing them.
| Setting | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Range bars | 12 | Cival Manipulation: length of the closed-bar window that must compress into a range (4 to 80). |
| Maximum price efficiency | 0.3 | Cival Manipulation: maximum net move divided by summed true ranges for the window; low values mean directionless compression. |
| Orderflow confirmation | "UseWhenAvailable" | Cival Manipulation: UseWhenAvailable scores flow when present, RequireCompleteDelta also demands directional delta at expansion, PriceOnly ignores flow. |
| Local alert on NEW confirmed expansion | false | Cival Manipulation: opt-in local alert when a new expansion is confirmed on a closed candle. |
| Pressure ratio | 3 | Cival Pressure Toolkit: aggressive-side volume must be at least this multiple of the opposite side at the same price row. |
| Minimum aggressive row volume | 10 | Cival Pressure Toolkit: row floor in the feed's own volume units; set it for your instrument. |
| Row statistics lookback | 20 | Cival Pressure Toolkit: prior bars whose row volumes set the Strong-pressure and absorption threshold (mean plus two standard deviations). |
| Robust threshold | "StandardDeviation" | Cival Pressure Toolkit: how the big-print size threshold is computed: StandardDeviation, Percentile or MedianMad. |
| Live resting depth | true | Cival Pressure Toolkit: shows live depth bars for the nearest 20 levels; live only and hidden when stale. |
| Alerts on closed signal / level touch | false | Cival Pressure Toolkit: master alert switch; the pressure, print, absorption and line-touch switches only work when it is on. |
Step-by-step practice tutorial
Work in ATAS replay or on a demo account. The exercise teaches installation and signal interpretation; the indicator never sends an order.
Check data status
Manipulation: the panel should leave WARMUP / SCANNING territory only when a range exists, and Recorded flow shows how many bars have usable bid/ask. Pressure Toolkit: the readiness line should begin Active, not Missing bid/ask footprint.
Read a Manipulation cycle in order
Find a blue range box, then a purple sweep band, then SWEEP / RECLAIM (a closed bar back inside), then a later expansion. A sweep alone is incomplete. Hover the cycle and read the evidence line and invalidation.
Read the phase labels carefully
Range known · bar N marks when the range became known; the box reaches back for context. 1R and 2R lines exist only after expansion and are reference distances, not targets.
Read a Pressure Toolkit bubble
A bubble sits at the strongest qualifying row of a closed candle; its number is the aggressive-side volume summed over qualifying rows and the label shows B, S and delta. Strong means that row was large against the previous 20 bars.
Follow an absorption line
An Absorption? marker leaves a one-tick line from the next bar until the first touch, even by the forming candle. It is a candidate, never confirmed absorption.
Check the tape and depth lines
The Pressure Toolkit panel's tape line shows whether individual prints loaded and why a bar produced none; depth bars appear only with a live depth feed and hide when stale.
Record your acceptance checks
□ Cival Manipulation and Cival Pressure Toolkit both appear in the ATAS indicator list and add to a chart without an error.
□ The CIVAL MANIPULATION panel is visible and is not showing Waiting for instrument tick size.
□ The Cival Pressure Toolkit readiness line begins Active rather than Missing bid/ask footprint.
□ After 21 footprint bars, bubbles with a centre number and a Pressure or Strong pressure label appear once rows meet the volume floor and 3 to 1 ratio.
□ The tape status line shows a real status (history loaded, a coverage figure, or an explicit no-history message).
□ Faint grey Round <price> lines appear around the current price.
□ Hovering a Manipulation cycle changes the panel to that cycle's phase and evidence.
□ Each DLL hash from Get-FileHash matches its line in SHA256SUMS.txt.
In Manipulation, hover a cycle and read its phase, evidence line, range, invalidation and recorded-flow count. In the Pressure Toolkit, read the panel's readiness and tape lines first, then compare each bubble's number and B/S/delta label with the qualifying rows.
Maintain, update and customize
- Update by closing ATAS and running the new version's Install.ps1; it backs up the DLLs it replaces. Keep the previous ZIP so you can reinstall it.
- Save your chart templates before every update and after you finish tuning, so settings can be restored.
- Keep the purchased ZIP, receipt, release version and SHA256SUMS.txt together; regenerate the download link from your account if it expires.
- Export files (Manipulation's diagnostic JSON in %APPDATA%\ATAS\CivalManipulation, Pressure Toolkit CSVs in the folder you choose) are overwritten or updated; copy them out to keep a review log.
Troubleshooting
Neither indicator is in the list
Restart ATAS after installing, confirm both DLLs sit directly in %APPDATA%\ATAS\Indicators, unblock them (Properties, Unblock), check ATAS is 8.0.15 or newer and search the exact names.
Pressure Toolkit says Missing bid/ask footprint (or no footprint)
The chart history lacks bid/ask volume per price for the newest bar. Load tick/cluster history or use a connection that provides it.
Manipulation stays at WARMUP / SCANNING
It needs about 15 completed bars and then a 12-bar window that is compressed (width at most 3.2 ATR, efficiency at most 0.30). A trending market produces no range, by design; time gaps restart the warm-up.
Manipulation panel reads Invalid manipulation settings
Range timeout (bars) must not be below Range bars, and Maximum sweep / ATR must not be below Minimum sweep / ATR. Nothing calculates until fixed.
No Pressure Toolkit bubbles
The row floor (10 feed units) may be too high for the instrument, the 3 to 1 ratio is not met, fewer than 21 footprint bars are loaded or Pressure bubbles is off.
No big prints on older bars
Only about the newest 20 closed bars can pass the print-coverage rule right after a fresh load, and the provider must supply individual trade history. The tape line gives the reason.
Depth bars missing
Depth is live only and needs a depth feed. No update for 10 seconds hides the bars (Depth stale timeout), and rows older than 60 seconds are dropped (Depth row expiry).
Install.ps1 cannot copy a DLL (file in use)
ATAS is still running. Close every ATAS window and process, then run Install.ps1 again.
Settings reset after an update
ATAS stores settings by name in the chart template. Restore your saved template or re-enter the values; keep a template copy before each update.
Related product guides
Get installation help
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