Guides
How each indicator works
Every number on a ticker page comes from one of these calculations. Each guide explains what the indicator measures, where it fails, and the exact rule this site uses to turn it into a score — so the composite signal is auditable rather than a black box. See how the scores are combined →
Trend indicators
Where price sits relative to its own history, and which way that is pointing.
- Moving averagesHow simple moving averages work, why the 20/50/200-day lines are the ones everyone watches, what a golden cross actually tells you, and how this site scores them.
- MACD (12/26/9)MACD explained without the jargon — what the line, the signal, and the histogram each measure, why crossovers lag, and how this site turns MACD into a score.
- Parabolic SARHow Parabolic SAR works, why it is a binary indicator with no neutral state, where it fails, and why this site gives it the smallest weight in the trend category.
Momentum indicators
How stretched a move has become in the short run.
- RSI (14)The Relative Strength Index explained: how it is calculated, why 70 and 30 are conventions rather than rules, why strong trends stay overbought, and how this site scores it.
- Stochastic %K (14)How the stochastic oscillator measures position within a high-low range, how it differs from RSI, and how this site scores it alongside the other momentum readings.
- CCI (20)The Commodity Channel Index explained — how it measures deviation from a moving average in units of mean deviation, why ±100 is the convention, and how this site scores it.
- Williams %R (14)Williams %R explained — the negative scale, why it mirrors the stochastic oscillator, and why this site gives it the lowest momentum weight on purpose.
Volume indicators
Whether participation confirms the price move or quietly disagrees with it.
- OBV divergenceOn-Balance Volume explained — how the running total is built, what divergence between OBV and price suggests, and the exact 10-bar rule this site scores.
- Relative volumeRelative volume explained — today's volume against its 20-day average, why ordinary volume carries no signal, and the exact rule this site applies.
Price structure
The levels price keeps reacting to, and where it sits between them.
- Support / resistanceHow this site finds support and resistance automatically — swing point detection, ATR-based clustering, touch counts and recency weighting — and how proximity to a level is scored.
- Bollinger positionBollinger Bands explained — a 20-day average with standard-deviation bands, what a squeeze and a band ride mean, and how this site converts band position into a score.
Context & filters
Measures that do not pick a direction but change how much the others should count.
- ADXADX explained — why it measures how strong a trend is rather than which way it points, why 20 is the conventional cutoff, and how this site uses it to damp the composite score.
- ATRAverage True Range explained — what 'true range' captures that a simple high-minus-low misses, and why this site uses ATR to set support/resistance tolerances.
Common questions
Longer answers to the questions these indicators usually raise.
- Is a golden cross reliable?An honest look at the golden cross — what it measures, why it lags by construction, when it produces strings of false signals, and how to read one in context.
- Does oversold RSI mean buy?Why 'oversold' describes what has already happened rather than what comes next, how RSI behaves in downtrends, and what to check before reading a low reading as meaningful.