Technical indicators
Understand trend, momentum, volatility, and volume indicators from their calculations to their failure modes.
Simple Moving Average (SMA)
An equal-weight average of closing prices over a selected number of periods.
Exponential Moving Average (EMA)
A moving average that gives recent prices more weight and reacts faster than an SMA.
MACD Indicator
A trend-momentum oscillator built from the difference between fast and slow moving averages.
Average Directional Index (ADX)
A smoothed measure of trend strength that does not by itself identify trend direction.
Aroon Indicator
Two lines measuring how recently the highest high and lowest low occurred within a lookback.
Ichimoku Cloud
A multi-line system combining trend, momentum, projected support, and resistance.
Parabolic SAR
Trailing stop points that accelerate toward price as a directional move persists.
Relative Strength Index (RSI)
A bounded momentum oscillator comparing the magnitude of recent gains with recent losses.
Stochastic Oscillator
A bounded oscillator comparing the latest close with the recent high-low range.
Stochastic RSI
An oscillator applying the stochastic formula to RSI values rather than directly to price.
Commodity Channel Index (CCI)
An unbounded oscillator measuring how far typical price sits from its moving average.
Rate of Change (ROC)
The percentage change between the current price and price a fixed number of periods ago.
Williams %R
A bounded oscillator locating the close within the recent high-low range on a −100 to 0 scale.
Bollinger Bands
A moving average surrounded by volatility bands based on standard deviation.
Average True Range (ATR)
A direction-neutral measure of average range that includes overnight gaps.
Keltner Channels
An EMA-centered envelope whose width is based on Average True Range.
Donchian Channels
Upper and lower boundaries formed by the highest high and lowest low over a lookback.
Bollinger Band Width
A normalized measure of the distance between the upper and lower Bollinger Bands.
Trading Volume
The number of shares or contracts traded during a period, used to assess participation.
On-Balance Volume (OBV)
A cumulative line that adds volume on up closes and subtracts it on down closes.
Volume-Weighted Average Price (VWAP)
The session's cumulative average traded price weighted by volume.
Anchored VWAP
A volume-weighted average price calculated from a chosen event or pivot instead of the session open.
Chaikin Money Flow (CMF)
A rolling measure combining where price closes within its range with period volume.
Money Flow Index (MFI)
A bounded momentum oscillator that applies volume weighting to positive and negative typical-price flows.
Accumulation/Distribution Line
A cumulative volume line weighted by where each close occurs within its high-low range.
Volume Profile
A histogram distributing traded volume across price levels rather than across time.