Technical Indicators

Full Indicator List

Indicators are organized into four categories based on what aspect of price action they measure. You can stack multiple indicators on a single chart to build a comprehensive view of any stock or crypto asset.

Trend Indicators

Trend indicators help you determine the direction and strength of the prevailing move. They smooth out price noise and make it easier to identify whether a stock is trending up, down, or moving sideways.

• SMA (Simple Moving Average) — calculates the arithmetic mean of closing prices over a specified number of periods. Common settings include 20, 50, and 200-day SMAs.
• EMA (Exponential Moving Average) — similar to SMA but gives more weight to recent prices, making it more responsive to new information. Popular for short-term trading signals.
• WMA (Weighted Moving Average) — applies linearly increasing weights to more recent data points, offering a middle ground between SMA and EMA responsiveness.
• VWAP (Volume Weighted Average Price) — the average price weighted by volume, anchored to session, week, month, or year. Institutional traders use VWAP as a benchmark for execution quality.
• Supertrend — a trend-following overlay that plots above or below price depending on the current trend direction. Flips color when the trend reverses, providing clear buy/sell signals.
• Ichimoku Cloud — a comprehensive indicator that shows support/resistance zones, trend direction, and momentum in a single overlay. Includes Tenkan-sen, Kijun-sen, Senkou Span A/B, and Chikou Span.

Momentum Indicators

Momentum indicators measure the speed and magnitude of price movements. They are especially useful for identifying overbought or oversold conditions and potential trend reversals.

• MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence) — tracks the relationship between two EMAs (typically 12 and 26 period). The MACD line, signal line, and histogram together reveal momentum shifts and potential crossover signals.
• RSI (Relative Strength Index) — oscillates between 0 and 100, measuring the magnitude of recent gains versus losses. Readings above 70 suggest overbought conditions; below 30 suggest oversold.
• Stochastic Oscillator — compares a stock's closing price to its price range over a given period. The %K and %D lines generate crossover signals, and readings above 80 or below 20 flag extremes.
• ADX (Average Directional Index) — measures trend strength on a 0-100 scale regardless of direction. Values above 25 indicate a strong trend; below 20 suggest a ranging market.
• CCI (Commodity Channel Index) — measures deviation from the statistical mean, helping identify cyclical turns. Readings above +100 or below -100 signal potential trend entries.

Volatility Indicators

Volatility indicators quantify how much price is fluctuating. They help you set stop-losses, identify breakout potential, and gauge market uncertainty.

• Bollinger Bands — plots two standard deviation bands above and below a moving average. When bands squeeze tight, a breakout is likely. When price touches the outer bands, it may be overextended.
• ATR (Average True Range) — measures average price range over a period, accounting for gaps. Higher ATR means higher volatility. Commonly used to set dynamic stop-loss levels.
• Keltner Channels — similar to Bollinger Bands but uses ATR instead of standard deviation for the channel width. Often combined with Bollinger Bands to identify "squeeze" setups.

Volume Indicators

Volume indicators confirm whether price moves are supported by trading activity. Strong moves on high volume are more likely to continue than moves on thin volume.

• OBV (On-Balance Volume) — a cumulative volume indicator that adds volume on up days and subtracts it on down days. Divergences between OBV and price can signal upcoming reversals.
• Volume Analysis — color-coded volume bars that highlight above-average activity. Volume spikes often coincide with significant price events like breakouts, breakdowns, or reversals.

How Key Indicators Work

Understanding what each indicator measures — and its limitations — is essential for using them effectively. Here is a brief explanation of the most commonly used indicators.

SMA vs EMA

The Simple Moving Average treats all data points equally, which makes it smoother but slower to react. The Exponential Moving Average weights recent prices more heavily, so it turns faster when momentum shifts. Most traders use EMA for short-term signals (9 or 21 period) and SMA for longer-term trend identification (50 or 200 period). A common strategy is watching for a shorter-period moving average to cross above or below a longer one — known as a golden cross (bullish) or death cross (bearish).

MACD Crossovers

The MACD generates signals when its fast line crosses above or below the signal line. A bullish crossover below zero is considered a strong buy signal because it suggests that downward momentum is exhausting and the trend may reverse. The histogram visualizes the distance between the two lines — shrinking histogram bars often precede a crossover, giving you an early warning.

RSI Overbought and Oversold

RSI above 70 does not automatically mean "sell," nor does RSI below 30 mean "buy." In strong trends, RSI can stay overbought or oversold for extended periods. The most reliable RSI signals come from divergences — when price makes a new high but RSI does not, it suggests momentum is weakening and a pullback may follow. ChartingLens makes it easy to spot these divergences visually.

Bollinger Bands Squeeze

When Bollinger Bands contract to their narrowest width in several weeks, it signals that volatility is compressing — and a significant move is likely coming. The direction of the breakout is not predicted by the squeeze itself, but traders watch for the first candle to close outside the bands as a directional signal. Combining a Bollinger squeeze with volume confirmation dramatically improves reliability.

Configurable Parameters

Every indicator in ChartingLens allows you to adjust its key parameters to match your trading style and timeframe. Click the settings gear icon next to any active indicator to open its configuration panel.

• Period lengths — change the lookback period for moving averages, RSI, ATR, and other indicators. A shorter period makes the indicator more responsive; a longer period smooths out noise.
• Source data — choose whether the indicator calculates from close, open, high, low, or HL2/HLC3/OHLC4 average prices.
• Visual settings — customize line colors, thickness, and opacity for each indicator independently so you can distinguish them at a glance.
• Band multipliers — for Bollinger Bands and Keltner Channels, adjust the standard deviation or ATR multiplier to widen or narrow the bands.
• VWAP anchoring — choose whether VWAP resets at the start of each session, week, month, or year depending on your trading horizon.

Auto Pattern Recognition

Premium users get access to ChartingLens's AI-powered pattern recognition engine. When enabled, the AI continuously scans your chart for classical chart patterns and automatically draws them with annotations.

• Chart patterns detected — head and shoulders, double tops/bottoms, ascending/descending triangles, flags, pennants, wedges, and cup-and-handle formations
• Automatic trendlines — the AI identifies significant swing highs and lows and draws trendlines connecting them, highlighting support and resistance levels you might have missed
• Pattern annotations — each detected pattern is labeled with its name, projected target based on the pattern's measured move, and a confidence percentage

Auto Pattern Recognition works alongside your manual drawings and indicators. You can dismiss any pattern the AI draws if you disagree with it, and the AI learns to improve its detection over time.

Volume Profile (VRVP)

Premium users get access to the Visible Range Volume Profile — a professional-grade indicator that shows how trading volume is distributed across price levels within the visible chart range.

• Dynamic recalculation — the Volume Profile automatically updates as you scroll and zoom, always reflecting the currently visible data
• Point of Control (POC) — a yellow dashed line marks the price level with the highest traded volume, a key magnet for price action
• Value Area — blue dashed lines mark the Value Area High and Low, encompassing 70% of total volume. Price tends to gravitate within this zone
• Multi-chart support — add VRVP to any or all charts in a multi-chart layout, each calculating independently for its own visible range

Volume Profile is an essential tool for identifying support/resistance levels based on actual traded volume rather than arbitrary horizontal lines. It's used by institutional and professional traders to find high-probability entries and exits.

Free vs Premium

Feature	Free	Premium
Active indicators on chart	3 at a time	Unlimited
Configurable parameters	Free	Free
Eye icon show/hide toggle	Free	Free
All indicator categories	Free	Free
Auto Pattern Recognition	-	Premium
Volume Profile (VRVP)	-	Premium
AI-drawn trendlines	-	Premium