Choosing an Indicator

The indicator dropdown is grouped into four families. You do not need to know all twenty — you need to know which family answers your question.

The platform will never tell you which indicator to use. That is a trading decision, and it is yours.

• Trend (7) — which way is the market going, and is it going anywhere at all.
• Momentum (6) — how hard is it pushing, and is it stretched.
• Volatility (4) — how far is it moving, and is the current move unusual.
• Volume (3) — how much trading is behind the move.

This is the most common beginner mistake. RSI, Stochastic and Williams %R are all momentum indicators built from similar arithmetic, so they mostly agree.

Adding all three with AND feels like triple confirmation, but it is really the same opinion counted three times. It makes the strategy slower without making it safer.

One from each family you care about is far more useful than three from the same one.

Most indicators have a period — how many candles they look at. RSI defaults to 14, meaning it studies the last 14 candles.

Smaller period: reacts faster, more signals, more false ones. Larger period: slower, fewer signals, steadier.

The defaults shown are the ones most traders use, and they are a reasonable starting point. Change them when you have a reason, not for the sake of it.

RSI gives a single value. Others give several, and you pick which one you want.

MACD gives the MACD line, the Signal line and the Histogram — so MACD line crosses above Signal line is one row using two of them.

Bollinger, Donchian and Keltner each give an upper, middle and lower band. Supertrend and Parabolic SAR give a line and a direction, where direction is simply up or down.