Technical Indicators and Overlays
Technical Indicators are the often squiggly lines found above, below and on-top-of the price information on a technical chart. Indicators that use the same scale as prices are typically plotted on top of the price bars and are therefore referred to as “Overlays”.
If you are new to stock charting and the use of technical indicators, the following article will help you get going:
Technical Overlays
Anchored VWAP A version of the VWAP overlay where the chartist defines the starting point for overlay calculations.
Bollinger Bands A chart overlay that shows the upper and lower limits of 'normal' price movements based on the Standard Deviation of prices.
Chandelier Exit An indicator that can be used to set trailing stop-losses for both long and short positions.
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Hull Moving Average (HMA) - A very responsive moving average calculation that weights recent prices more heavily than those earlier in the period.
Ichimoku Cloud A comprehensive indicator that defines support and resistance, identifies trend direction, gauges momentum and provides trading signals.
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Keltner Channels A chart overlay that shows upper and lower limits for price movements based on the Average True Range of prices.
Moving Averages Chart overlays that show the 'average' value over time. Both Simple Moving Averages (SMAs) and Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs) are explained.
Moving Average Ribbon A quick way to plot several moving averages with different look-back periods on a chart at once.
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Parabolic SAR A chart overlay that shows reversal points below prices in an uptrend and above prices in a downtrend.
Pivot Points A chart overlay that shows reversal points below prices in an uptrend and above prices in a downtrend.
Price Channels A chart overlay that shows a channel made from the highest high and lowest low for a given period of time.
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Volume By Price A chart overlay with a horizontal histogram showing the amount of activity at various price levels.
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ZigZag A chart overlay that shows filtered price movements that are greater than a given percentage.
Technical Indicators
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Aroon Uses Aroon Up and Aroon Down to determine whether a stock is trending or not.
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Balance of Power (BOP) Measures buying and selling pressure to determine which side is in greater control and driving price action.
Bollinger BandWidth Shows the percentage difference between the upper and lower Bollinger Band.
%B Indicator Shows the relationship between price and standard deviation Bollinger Bands.
Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) Combines price and volume to show how money may be flowing into or out of a stock Alternative to Accumulation/Distribution Line.
Chaikin Oscillator Combines price and volume to show how money may be flowing into or out of a stock. Based on Accumulation/Distribution Line.
Chande Trend Meter (CTM) Scores the strength of a stock's trend, based on several technical indicators over six different timeframes.
CMB Composite Index An unbound momentum oscillator that attempts to improve on some of the shortcomings of traditional RSI.
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ConnorsRSI A momentum oscillator created from the composite of RSI, ROC, and Up/Down Length, designed for shorter-term trades.
Coppock Curve An oscillator that uses rate-of-change and a weighted moving average to measure momentum.
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Distance From Highs Shows how far a security is trading from its 3, 6, 9, or 12-month highs, expressed as a percentage.
Distance From Lows Shows how far a security is trading from its 3, 6, 9, or 12-month lows, expressed as a percentage.
Distance To Highs Shows the percentage move necessary for a security to reach a 3, 6, 9, or 12-month high.
Distance To Lows Shows the percentage move necessary for a security to reach a 3, 6, 9, or 12-month low.
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Highest High Value Shows a security's highest trading value in the span of a specific period.
Lowest Low Value Shows a security's lowest trading value within a specific period.
Mass Index An indicator that identifies reversals when the price range widens.
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MACD-Histogram A momentum oscillator that shows the difference between MACD and its signal line.
MACD-V A volatility-normalized MACD that can analyze trends.
MACD-V Histogram A momentum oscillator that indicates if a trend is positive or negative in absolute terms.
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On Balance Volume (OBV) Combines price and volume in a very simple way to show how money may be flowing into or out of a stock.
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Pring's Special K A momentum indicator from Martin Pring that combines short-term, intermediate and long-term velocity.
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Relative Volume (RVOL) A set of indicators/overlays that compare current volume to the average, in order to identify conditions where unusually high or low volume is powering a price move.
RRG Relative Strength Uses RS-Ratio to measure relative performance and RS-Momentum to measure the momentum of relative performance.
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Slope Measures the rise-over-run for a linear regression.
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StochRSI Combines Stochastics with the RSI indicator to help you see RSI changes more clearly.
Traffic Light Shows bullish (green), bearish (red), and neutral (yellow) zones on a chart using parameters you set.
TRIX A triple-smoothed moving average of price movements.
True Strength Index An indicator that measures trend direction and identifies overbought/oversold levels.
TTM Squeeze A volatility indicator used to identify periods of consolidation and determine the likely direction of the resulting move.
Ulcer Index An indicator designed to measure market risk or volatility.
Ultimate Oscillator Combines long-term, mid-term and short-term moving averages into one number.
Vortex Indicator An indicator designed to identify the start of a new trend and define the current trend.
Williams %R Uses Stochastics to determine overbought and oversold levels.
We also have a large collection of Market Indicators documented on this page.