Source-aware field guide · 20 answers
Technical Indicators
Source-aware definitions and calculation checks for widely used trend, momentum, volatility and volume indicators.
Published · reviewed for scope, source visibility and answer ownership
How to use this guide
Source-aware definitions and calculation checks for widely used trend, momentum, volatility and volume indicators. The guide is written for traders, educators, platform testers and market-data teams. The collection explains what each indicator transforms and how to verify a platform output; it does not present indicator readings as predictions.
Use every answer to resolve one operational question: Which inputs, parameters and calculation convention produced the indicator value, and can another system reproduce it? Indicator names often hide parameter, smoothing, seed and data differences. A matching label does not guarantee matching values.
The supporting set is MetaTrader 5 Help — Technical indicators; MetaTrader 5 Help — Charts; CME Group — Technical analysis. These links provide standards, regulator material or official product documentation for the subject; they do not imply endorsement, worldwide applicability or a verified feature in a particular deployment. Check the current source, contract, configuration and qualified local advice before a production, trading or compliance decision.
What Is a Simple Moving Average?
A simple moving average is the arithmetic mean of a chosen price field over a fixed number of observations.
- Use it to
- Verify the price field, period, bar order and treatment of missing observations.
- Check the boundary
- It lags the input series and different session data can change every value.
What Is an Exponential Moving Average?
An exponential moving average applies recursively declining weights so newer observations influence the average more than older ones.
- Use it to
- Reproduce the smoothing factor, initial seed and price field used by the platform.
- Check the boundary
- Different seeding conventions can create long-lived differences even with the same period.
What Is RSI?
The Relative Strength Index compares smoothed average gains and losses over a selected period and expresses the ratio on a zero-to-one-hundred scale.
- Use it to
- Check change calculation, smoothing method, seed and source bars.
- Check the boundary
- An overbought or oversold label is a convention, not a guaranteed reversal signal.
What Is MACD?
MACD subtracts a slower exponential moving average from a faster one and commonly adds a signal average and histogram.
- Use it to
- Verify all three periods, price field, seed and histogram sign convention.
- Check the boundary
- Platforms can label the MACD line, signal and histogram differently.
What Are Bollinger Bands?
Bollinger Bands place upper and lower bands around a moving average using a chosen multiple of a rolling dispersion measure.
- Use it to
- Confirm the center average, lookback, standard-deviation convention and multiplier.
- Check the boundary
- Touching a band does not establish direction, and population versus sample deviation changes the result.
What Is Average True Range?
Average True Range smooths true range, which includes the current high-low span and gaps from the previous close, to describe movement magnitude.
- Use it to
- Test true-range cases, smoothing, period and session continuity.
- Check the boundary
- ATR is expressed in price units and does not indicate bullish or bearish direction.
What Is the Stochastic Oscillator?
The stochastic oscillator locates a close within the recent high-low range and often smooths the resulting percent K and percent D lines.
- Use it to
- Verify lookback, smoothing stages, zero-range handling and price source.
- Check the boundary
- Fast, slow and full variants can share a name while producing different values.
What Is ADX?
The Average Directional Index smooths directional-movement components to describe trend strength without assigning bullish or bearish direction.
- Use it to
- Reproduce true range, positive and negative movement, smoothing and initialization.
- Check the boundary
- ADX strength thresholds are conventions and can lag abrupt regime changes.
What Is the Commodity Channel Index?
The Commodity Channel Index measures the distance of a typical price from its moving average relative to mean absolute deviation and a scaling constant.
- Use it to
- Check typical-price definition, period, deviation method and zero-deviation handling.
- Check the boundary
- The indicator is not limited to commodities despite its name.
What Is On-Balance Volume?
On-Balance Volume adds or subtracts volume according to whether the close rose or fell from the prior observation, creating a cumulative series.
- Use it to
- Confirm the volume field and rule for unchanged closes and missing bars.
- Check the boundary
- The absolute starting value is arbitrary and decentralized markets may use tick volume.
What Is the Money Flow Index?
The Money Flow Index combines typical price and volume into positive and negative money-flow ratios on a bounded scale.
- Use it to
- Verify typical price, raw flow, sign classification, period and zero-loss behavior.
- Check the boundary
- Input volume quality differs by market and can materially change the output.
What Is Parabolic SAR?
Parabolic SAR advances a stop-and-reverse level using an extreme point and acceleration factor that reset when the modeled trend changes.
- Use it to
- Test initialization, acceleration increments, caps and reversal rules.
- Check the boundary
- Small implementation differences can shift every later point, especially around gaps.
What Is Ichimoku Cloud?
Ichimoku uses midpoint calculations over several lookbacks, with selected lines plotted forward or backward to provide a structured view of trend and range.
- Use it to
- Verify lookbacks, displacement, session bars and chart alignment.
- Check the boundary
- Visual displacement can be mistaken for future data if timestamps are not understood.
What Are Pivot Points?
Pivot points derive reference levels from a prior period's high, low and close using one of several named formula families.
- Use it to
- Name the formula, source session, timezone and rounding before comparing levels.
- Check the boundary
- Standard, Fibonacci, Woodie and Camarilla calculations are not interchangeable.
What Is Fibonacci Retracement?
Fibonacci retracement applies selected ratios to a user-chosen price range to mark proportional levels between its endpoints.
- Use it to
- Record the two anchors, price scale and ratios so another reviewer can recreate the drawing.
- Check the boundary
- Anchor selection is discretionary and the levels do not prove support or resistance.
What Is a Donchian Channel?
A Donchian channel plots the highest high and lowest low over a chosen lookback, sometimes with a midpoint line.
- Use it to
- Verify whether the current bar is included, the price fields and the period.
- Check the boundary
- Inclusion rules can move a breakout threshold by one bar.
What Is a Keltner Channel?
A Keltner channel places volatility-based envelopes, commonly using an average true range multiple, around a selected moving average.
- Use it to
- State the center average, ATR method, periods and multiplier.
- Check the boundary
- Historical and modern Keltner formulas differ, so the name alone is insufficient.
What Is Rate of Change?
Rate of Change compares the current price with the price a fixed number of observations earlier, as a difference or percentage.
- Use it to
- Verify denominator, lookback, price field and handling of zero or missing values.
- Check the boundary
- Some platforms label absolute momentum and percentage ROC inconsistently.
What Is Williams Percent R?
Williams Percent R locates the close within the recent high-low range on a scale that commonly runs from zero to negative one hundred.
- Use it to
- Check lookback, price fields, sign convention and zero-range handling.
- Check the boundary
- The inverted scale is easy to misread and threshold crossings are not guaranteed signals.
What Is Session VWAP?
Session VWAP divides cumulative price-volume value by cumulative volume from a defined session start, using the platform's chosen price and volume fields.
- Use it to
- Align session boundaries, typical-price formula, volume source and reset behavior.
- Check the boundary
- There is no single meaningful session reset for every market or round-the-clock instrument.
Primary and official references
These sources establish definitions, standards or official product behavior used across this guide. Follow the exact source and check its current version before a live implementation.