Cheat sheet

Technical Indicators

Need a quick refresher on RSI, MACD, moving averages, OBV or volume profile? Find what each one shows and how to read it below.

Chart	Indicator	What it tells you
Indicators
	RSI14-day	Momentum on a 0–100 scale · ▲ below 30 is oversold · ▼ above 70 is overbought
	Bullish MACD cross12 / 26 / 9	▲ The MACD line crosses above its signal line — momentum turning up
	Bearish MACD cross12 / 26 / 9	▼ The MACD line crosses below its signal line — momentum turning down
	EMA2121-day exponential	The short-term trend · weights recent prices most, so it reacts fastest
	MA5050-day simple	The medium-term trend · pullbacks often find support or resistance at it
	MA200200-day simple	The long-term trend · price ▲ above it leans bullish, ▼ below it bearish
	Golden crossMA50 × MA200	▲ MA50 crosses above MA200 — the long-term trend turning up
	Death crossMA50 × MA200	▼ MA50 crosses below MA200 — the long-term trend turning down
	ADX / DMI14-day, Wilder smoothing	ADX = trend strength, not direction · +DI / −DI give direction · after a decline, ▲ ADX turning down from high = selling losing force
	Relative volumevs. 20-day average	Today's volume against the stock's own average · 1.0× is typical · 1.5× or more is heavy
	On-Balance Volume (OBV)Running volume total	Volume added on ▲ up closes, taken off on ▼ down closes · read its direction, and a ▲ higher low under a lower price low
	Accumulation/DistributionClose's place in the range	Volume weighted by where the close sat in the day's range · ▲ rising while price drifts lower means closes near the highs
	Volume Spread AnalysisVolume, spread, close	Effort vs result on each bar · ▲ heavy selling that closes off its low, then a quiet test on light volume
	Volume profileVolume by price	Where the volume traded, price by price · the POC is the busiest price, the value area holds 70% of it
	Anchored VWAPFrom a chosen bar	The average price paid since the anchor · price ▲ above it means buyers since then are in profit
	Fibonacci retracement38.2 / 50 / 61.8%	How much of the last swing price has given back · 61.8–65% is the golden pocket
	ATR14-day	The average daily range, gaps included · a volatility gauge, often used to size stop-loss buffers
	Bollinger Bands20-day, 2 std. dev.	▲ A close back above the lower band after closes below it · a squeeze (BandWidth at about a six-month low) warns of a bigger move, not its direction · closes outside a band are at first continuation, not reversal
Chart structure
	Horizontal supportPrior swing lows	A price floor where buyers stepped in before · more touches, more weight
	Trend channelTrend line + channel line	A trend line through the swing lows, a parallel line through the peaks · a ▼ close through the trend line breaks it
	Trading rangeFloor + ceiling	Price boxed between a floor and a ceiling · a wick below the floor that closes back inside is a false break
	Multi-timeframe analysisWeekly + daily	Weekly for direction, daily for setups · read a daily pattern against the weekly trend
	52-week high / low52 weeks (~252 days)	The year’s highest and lowest price · ▲ a reversal candle that rejects a new 52-week low, then a confirmation close (nothing from the past year sits beneath it) · the 52-week high is a common target zone, not a ceiling

How the scanner uses technical indicators

A candlestick pattern is the signal; technical indicators are the context around it. No single reading settles it: check whether momentum is stretched, the trend is on its side, volume is heavy, and the level has held before. The confirming close still decides. The scanner shows these readings on every setup.

FAQ

What are the best technical indicators to use with candlestick patterns?

There is no single best indicator — the useful approach is one per job. A candlestick pattern is the signal; indicators supply the context around it: momentum (RSI or MACD) says whether the move is stretched or turning, moving averages say which way the trend runs, relative volume says how much conviction is behind the candle, and levels like support and Fibonacci retracements say whether price is somewhere a turn makes sense. Two indicators that measure the same thing, such as two momentum oscillators, add confidence that is not really there.

What are the standard RSI settings?

The standard Relative Strength Index uses 14 periods, with 70 marking overbought and 30 marking oversold — the settings J. Welles Wilder introduced and the ones most charting platforms default to. Some traders widen the bands to 80 and 20 in strong trends, where RSI can stay above 70 or below 30 for a long time. Overbought and oversold describe how stretched a move is, not when it will turn, which is why RSI works best as context for a candlestick signal rather than a trigger on its own.

What is the difference between a golden cross and a death cross?

Both are crossovers of the 50-day and 200-day moving averages, read in opposite directions. A golden cross is the 50-day moving above the 200-day, a sign the long-term trend is turning up; a death cross is the 50-day falling below the 200-day, a sign it is turning down. Because both averages are slow, a cross confirms a change that is already underway rather than predicting one — it describes the backdrop a candlestick pattern forms in.

What is relative volume?

Relative volume (rVol) is a session's volume divided by the stock's own average volume over a recent lookback period, commonly 20 days. A reading of 1.0x is a typical day, 2.0x is twice the usual activity. Because it compares a stock to itself, it puts a thinly traded small-cap and a heavily traded large-cap on the same scale, which raw volume cannot do. Heavy relative volume on a reversal candle suggests real participation behind the move rather than a quiet drift.