Glossary

A moving average that weights recent bars more heavily than old ones, so it reacts faster to fresh price action than a simple average of the same length.

Why it matters

EMAs are the workhorse trend tool in technical analysis. A short EMA (e.g. length 30) acts as a fast pulse showing where price has been recently; a long EMA (e.g. length 60 or 200) acts as a stable baseline. When the short pulls away from the long, that's the classic trend signal almost every modern indicator builds on.

Quick example

Imagine an EMA(20) sitting at $100. Today's bar closes at $105 — the EMA might tick up to about $100.50, because the most recent bar carries the heaviest weight. A simple average over the same 20 bars would only move to $100.25 for the same price change, since every old bar pulls equally. That's why traders reach for EMAs when they need to react quickly.

Where you'll see it

Momentum WaveMomentum Trend PredictorMOM Algo V15Most trend indicators

The plain arithmetic mean of the last N closing prices. Reacts slower than an EMA of the same length because every bar in the window has equal weight.

Why it matters

SMAs are slower than EMAs but they're the textbook reference. Many institutional models trigger off the SMA(200) — when an index closes above its 200-bar SMA it's traditionally treated as a bullish regime; below, bearish. SMAs are also what beginners are taught first, so they remain a common shared language between traders.

Quick example

BTC's SMA(50) = the average closing price over the last 50 bars. If BTC has ranged between $60,000 and $70,000 for fifty days, SMA(50) sits around $65,000. A single one-day spike to $80,000 barely moves it because that bar is only 1/50 of the calculation — exactly the trade-off you make to get a stable, low-noise baseline.

Where you'll see it

Most baseline / regime filtersReference levels in many strategies

An average where each bar's contribution is scaled by its volume, so heavy-volume bars pull the line harder than thin ones. Used as a slow centre of gravity.

Why it matters

VWAP is what institutional desks measure their fills against — "better than VWAP" is the textbook fill-quality benchmark. Retail traders use it as dynamic support/resistance: price tends to mean-revert toward VWAP intraday, and trades that respect VWAP tend to align with the order flow that actually fills.

Quick example

On a 4H chart with anchored VWAP from the start of the year, BTC at $70k might sit $3k above its anchored VWAP of $67k. That gap measures how stretched the trend is from its volume-weighted fair value — pullbacks toward VWAP often hold.

Where you'll see it

Momentum Balance FinderMomentum Radar

A measure of typical bar-to-bar volatility. ATR rises when bars get bigger; many indicators use it as a noise floor — they only fire when a move clears a multiple of ATR.

Why it matters

ATR is how indicators ask "is this move actually meaningful, or is it just normal noise on this chart?" Without an ATR-adjusted threshold, a $50 EMA cross on Tesla would trigger the same signal as a $50 cross on a sleepy utility stock — but $50 is nothing on TSLA and huge on the utility. ATR scales the cutoff to each instrument's own natural volatility, so the same indicator behaves sensibly across every market.

Quick example

On BTC 1H, ATR(60) = $300 means the average bar over the last 60 hours had a $300 high-low range. A rule like "only fire when price moves more than 0.3 × ATR" becomes "price has to move more than $90" on this chart. On a sleepy stock with ATR = $0.50, the same rule becomes "more than $0.15." Same logic, different cutoffs — that's the point.

Where you'll see it

Momentum Wave (ribbon gate)Sniper v3Impulse TargetsVolatility-aware stops

A running tally that adds a bar's volume on up-closes and subtracts it on down-closes. The slope shows whether net buying or net selling is accumulating.

Why it matters

OBV translates raw volume into a directional flow line. Rising OBV during sideways price = quiet accumulation (someone's buying). Falling OBV during sideways price = quiet distribution. The cross between OBV and a slower OBV-derived baseline (Momentum Balance Finder's design) is one of the cleaner ways to see institutional flow before price reveals it.

Quick example

BTC ranges between $60k and $63k for two weeks. OBV during the range climbs +250 % above its anchor. That's hidden accumulation — the breakout that follows usually has follow-through, because someone large was buying through the chop.

Where you'll see it

Momentum Balance FinderMomentum Insider with Divergences

A price envelope built from a moving-average centreline with rails offset by multiples of ATR. Wider rails mark zones where price has historically run out of room before reverting.

Why it matters

Keltner Channels are the volatility-aware cousin of Bollinger Bands — instead of standard deviation, they use ATR for the rails, so the bands react to true volatility (including gaps) rather than just close-to-close noise. Divergences PRO uses 4 ATR-multiple rails simultaneously to grade how stretched a divergence reading is.

Quick example

On BTC 1H with a 40-period basis and ATR rails at 3, 4, 5, 6 multiples, price tagging the 3rd rail is mildly stretched, the 4th rail is exhausted, the 5th and 6th rails mark blow-off territory. A bearish divergence printing while price tags the 5th rail is a much higher-conviction read than the same divergence at the 1st rail.

Where you'll see it

Divergences PROMOM Algo V15

The average of a bar's open, high, low and close — `(O + H + L + C) / 4`. A balanced "typical price" used as input to indicators that want a smoother proxy for the bar's value than just the close.

Why it matters

Most indicators default to using just the close price. But the close is just the last tick of the bar — it can be wildly different from where the bar actually traded most of the time. ohlc4 averages the four key prices so the input reflects where the bar lived, not just where it ended. That smooths out wicks and noisy closes, which matters most for slow-period indicators like a length-89 EMA.

Quick example

A 1H bar on BTC: O = $100, H = $110, L = $99, C = $101. Close-based input = $101. ohlc4 = (100 + 110 + 99 + 101) / 4 = $102.50. The ohlc4 captures the fact that BTC briefly touched $110 — instead of treating that wick as noise the way a close-only feed would.

Where you'll see it

Momentum Wave (wave EMA source)

A VWAP that begins at a chosen pivot bar (a swing high or swing low) and runs forward. Anchoring makes the absolute level meaningful instead of drifting with whatever bars happen to load.

Why it matters

Anchored VWAP is one of the cleanest tools for tracking who's in profit since a major event. An anchor placed at the year's low gives you the average buyer's cost since the bottom — that line behaves as support until decisively broken.

Quick example

Anchor a VWAP at BTC's swing low of $60,000 on 1 March. By 15 March, anchored VWAP sits at $66,500 — that's the average cost of buyers since the low. As long as price holds above $66,500, those buyers are in profit; the line behaves as live support.

Where you'll see it

Momentum Radar

A short, counter-trend move within an established trend — buyers (or sellers) momentarily losing ground before the trend resumes. Often the lowest-risk place to enter the trend.

Why it matters

Pullbacks are where most professional traders actually enter trends. The breakout bar shouts the signal but offers awful risk/reward — you're buying the high tick after the move, with no clear stop. A pullback to support gives you a defined invalidation level (just under support) and lots of room for the trend to keep running. Same trend, different entry, much better trade.

Quick example

BTC breaks out from $60,000 with the Momentum Wave ribbon flipping green. Chase entry: buy at $60k → next bar dips to $58k → already underwater with no stop. Pullback entry: wait → BTC retraces to the slow EMA at $58k while the ribbon stays green → buy with a stop just below. You're long at $58k while the chaser is at $60k. Same view, $2k better.

Where you'll see it

Momentum Wave (recommended entry)Strong Buy Strong SellSniper v3

When price makes a new extreme but a momentum indicator (RSI, MACD, etc.) does not — a sign that the move is losing internal force even though it's still going.

Why it matters

Divergence is the earliest warning sign that a trend is running on fumes. Price is still going but the momentum gauge underneath is fading. Many of the largest reversals in markets are preceded by clear divergence — but never trade ON divergence alone. It's a heads-up, not a signal. Wait for confirmation (a colour flip, a structure break) before acting.

Quick example

SPX makes a higher high at $4,500. On the same chart, RSI prints a lower high — say it was 78 at the previous swing high but only 65 at the new one. Price is still rising but the engine is cooler. That's a bearish divergence. It doesn't mean short the next bar — it means watch closely; if structure breaks, the reversal is set up.

Where you'll see it

Momentum Insider with DivergencesDivergences PRO

The expectation that price, after stretching far from a baseline (a moving average, prior range), will snap back toward it. Works best in chop and range-bound markets.

Why it matters

Most short-term price moves are mean-reverting — extreme readings tend to fade back to a baseline before continuing. This is the "fade the spike, buy the dip in a range" style of trading. Works beautifully in chop (when Momentum Wave's ribbon is yellow). Fails badly in trends — that's why a tool that tells you which regime you're in is so valuable.

Quick example

BTC ranges between $30,000 and $32,000 for two weeks. On a news headline it spikes to $32,500. A mean-reversion trader fades the spike — short at $32,500 expecting price to drift back to the middle of the range around $31,000. If Momentum Wave's ribbon is yellow, this is a high-probability play. If the ribbon is green, the same fade is fighting a real trend and likely to lose.

Where you'll see it

Momentum Balance FinderMomentum Levels V3

The opposite of mean reversion — staying with a directional move once it's established, exiting only when the trend itself breaks. Works best in trending markets.

Why it matters

Trend following accepts many small losses for occasional huge wins. You buy strength and sell weakness, expecting big moves to last longer than mean-reversion traders' fades will recover. The whole point of Momentum Wave's green/red ribbon is to tell you when the regime favours this style — when it does, fade trades stop working and trends run further than feels reasonable.

Quick example

BTC ribbon flips green at $60,000. The trend follower buys, sets a stop at the recent low $58,000, and holds as price runs all the way to $74,000. A mean-reversion trader sees the same flip, refuses to chase, eventually shorts at $74,000 expecting reversion — and gets stopped out as the trend continues to $78,000. Same chart, opposite philosophy, opposite result.

Where you'll see it

Momentum WaveStrong Buy Strong SellMOM Algo V15

A 0-to-100 momentum oscillator measuring the size of recent up-bars versus down-bars. Above 70 is hot, below 30 is cold, near 50 is neutral.

Why it matters

RSI is the most-cited momentum oscillator in trading. Its real value isn't the 70/30 overbought/oversold tags — those routinely lie in trends — but the divergences between RSI and price, which warn of momentum exhaustion before price actually turns. Many indicators in this app build on top of RSI: Momentum Trend Predictor smooths it; Divergences PRO scans for divergences against it.

Quick example

BTC makes a higher high at $74,000, but RSI on the same bar prints 65 — lower than the 78 it printed at the previous swing high. Price is still rising; RSI says less force behind the move. That's a textbook bearish divergence — not a sell signal, but a heads-up to watch for confirmation.

Where you'll see it

Momentum Trend PredictorDivergences PROMOM Algo V15Momentum Ultima PlusSniper v3

A trailing line set above or below price using an ATR multiple. When close crosses it, the line flips to the opposite side and signals a regime change.

Why it matters

Supertrend is the workhorse trigger across many of this app's mechanical strategies (MOM Algo V15, Sniper v3, Strong Buy Strong Sell, Momentum Ultima Plus). It's simple, ATR-aware, and unambiguous — every flip is a binary regime change. The downside is whipsaw inside chop; that's why most indicators wrap Supertrend in additional filters before printing a callout.

Quick example

BTC at $70k. Supertrend (ATR length 11, factor 4) sits at $67,200 below price — the line is green and trend is up. A close below $67,200 flips Supertrend to red and the line jumps above price; that's the regime change.

Where you'll see it

MOM Algo V15Sniper v3Strong Buy Strong SellMomentum Ultima PlusInstitutional Algo

A bar that is higher (or lower) than a defined number of bars on both sides. Confirmed only after the right-hand bars print without breaking it.

Why it matters

Pivots are the structural skeleton most other tools build on. Zigzag connects them. Divergence checks fire off them. Support/resistance is drawn from them. Knowing whether a pivot is confirmed (right-side bars passed) vs provisional (still forming) is the difference between trading structure and trading hindsight.

Quick example

With pivot lookback 5 left / 5 right, a high bar at $74,000 only counts as a pivot once 5 more bars print without breaking it. Until then, the pivot is provisional — a fresh higher high might appear and overwrite it.

Where you'll see it

Impulse TargetsMomentum Insider with DivergencesDivergences PROMOM Algo V15Strong Buy Strong Sell

The most recent confirmed pivot in either direction. Swing highs cap rallies until broken; swing lows support pullbacks until broken.

Why it matters

Swing highs and lows are how traders read market structure without drawing a single line. A higher high broken = continuation. A lower high taken out = potential reversal. Most structure-based tools (Structure PRO especially) operate entirely on swing-high/low geometry.

Quick example

BTC's last swing high is $74,000, last swing low is $66,000. While price stays inside that range, structure is neutral. A close above $74,000 = trend continuation (BOS); a close below $66,000 = reversal warning (CHoCH).

Where you'll see it

Structure PROStrong Buy Strong Sell

The pattern of swing highs and lows price prints as it moves. Healthy uptrends print higher highs and higher lows; healthy downtrends print the mirror.

Why it matters

Market structure is the trader's mental backbone — the higher-timeframe context that tells you whether to fade or follow. Most institutional desks frame every trade in structural terms first, then look at indicators. Tools like Structure PRO automate this read so you don't have to draw the lines yourself.

Quick example

BTC stairs up: swing high $66k → swing high $70k → swing high $74k. Each higher high confirms uptrend structure. The first time a fresh swing high fails (lower high prints), structure has weakened — even if the trend hasn't formally reversed yet.

Where you'll see it

Structure PRO

A close past the most recent swing high or low in the same direction as the prevailing trend. Signals trend continuation.

Why it matters

BOS is the formal confirmation that a trend hasn't ended. In an uptrend, every fresh swing-high break is a BOS — the trend continues. In a downtrend, every fresh swing-low break is a BOS. The opposite event (taking out the prior swing in the counter-trend direction) is a CHoCH and means the regime may be turning.

Quick example

BTC uptrend with most recent swing high at $74,000. Price closes through $74,000 on the next push → that's a BOS. The trend has continuation; you can hold longs or add on the next pullback.

Where you'll see it

Structure PRO

A close past the most recent swing point in the opposite direction from the prior break. The first warning that the trend may be turning.

Why it matters

CHoCH is the earliest structural warning of a trend change — distinct from divergence (which is momentum-based). After a series of higher highs, the first time price closes below a recent swing low is a CHoCH. The trend hasn't formally reversed yet, but the character has changed. Many institutional traders enter counter-trend on the first pullback after CHoCH.

Quick example

BTC uptrend stairs up: $66k → $70k → $74k. Then it prints a fresh swing low at $69,500 — and the next move closes through $69,500. CHoCH. The character has changed. Don't add longs; watch for the next pullback as a potential short setup.

Where you'll see it

Structure PRO

The cluster of bars where a large player built a position before a strong move. Often acts as future support or resistance when price returns to it.

Why it matters

Order blocks are a Smart Money Concepts (SMC) staple. The premise: when a large player loads up, the bars they bought (or sold) into leave a footprint, and price respects those zones on the way back because the same players defend their entries. Institutional Algo auto-marks these zones so you don't have to spot them by hand.

Quick example

BTC consolidated between $62,000 and $63,500 for six bars before exploding to $70k. The original consolidation zone is the order block. Two weeks later, price pulls back to $63,200 — that zone holds, the move resumes. Classic OB respect.

Where you'll see it

Institutional Algo

A gap between three consecutive bars where price moved so fast it left an unfilled zone. Markets often revisit it before continuing the trend.

Why it matters

FVGs are the footprint of displacement — moments where one side of the order book overwhelmed the other so fast that orderly two-way trade got skipped. The market tends to revisit these gaps to fill the missed liquidity before the trend resumes. They're the cleanest pullback targets in trending markets.

Quick example

BTC ramps from $70k to $74k in three 1H bars. The middle bar's low is $71,800; the prior bar's high was $71,200; the next bar's low is $72,400. There's a gap between $71,200 and $72,400 — that's the FVG. Two days later, BTC pulls back, prints a low at $71,500 (inside the FVG), and resumes the rally.

Where you'll see it

Institutional Algo

A quick wick or push beyond an obvious high or low that triggers retail stops. Smart money often uses it to fill big orders before reversing the move.

Why it matters

Stops cluster predictably above swing highs and below swing lows — that's where retail is positioned. Large players need volume to fill; the easiest place to find it is at those stop clusters. A sweep that wicks through a level and immediately reverses is the footprint of a desk filling at retail's expense. Trading against the sweep (after confirmation) is one of the higher-probability setups in modern crypto.

Quick example

BTC ranges in $66k-$68k for a week. On a low-volume Sunday, price wicks down to $65,500 (taking out everyone's stops below $66k) and snaps back to $67,800 within an hour. Classic sweep — the move past $66k was to harvest stops, not start a downtrend.

Where you'll see it

Institutional Algo

A long-bodied bar that breaks out of a range with conviction. Marks the moment a desk stops hiding and starts pushing price.

Why it matters

Displacement is the visible move that ends an accumulation or distribution phase. A 3 % bar on BTC 1H out of a quiet range is a displacement — the desk that was hiding is now in markup mode and wants the price up. Displacement bars usually leave FVGs behind, which become high-probability pullback targets.

Quick example

BTC ranges $69k-$71k for three days, all bars under 1 % range. The next 1H bar opens at $70.5k and closes at $73k — a 3.5 % displacement. That bar marks the start of a directional leg; the FVG it leaves becomes the next pullback target.

Where you'll see it

Institutional Algo

Accumulation is sustained net buying that builds a position quietly. Distribution is the reverse — sustained net selling into strength.

Why it matters

Accumulation/distribution phases happen before the obvious move shows on price. They're the boring, sideways stretches where large players quietly build (or unload) inventory. Volume-flow tools (OBV, Momentum Balance Finder) and structure tools (Institutional Algo) try to make these phases visible before price reveals them.

Quick example

BTC sits in $30,000 to $32,000 for two weeks with declining volatility but rising OBV. That's accumulation — buyers absorbing supply at a price they like. The breakout that follows usually has follow-through; the sideways range was loading the spring.

Where you'll see it

Momentum Balance FinderInstitutional Algo

A reading style focused on where institutional players accumulate, displace, and distribute — rather than classical indicator crossovers.

Why it matters

SMC is the framework many modern crypto traders use. Instead of asking "is RSI overbought?", SMC asks "where did the desk leave a footprint, and is price returning to that footprint?". The vocabulary (BOS, CHoCH, order block, FVG, liquidity sweep) is now standard across institutional-flavoured retail systems.

Quick example

An SMC trader doesn't watch RSI for a long entry. They wait for: (1) a CHoCH confirming structure flipped bullish, (2) a pullback into the most recent order block or FVG, (3) a liquidity sweep below a recent low to harvest stops, then (4) buy. Layered confirmation, all structure-based.

Where you'll see it

Institutional AlgoStructure PRO

The distance from entry to stop expressed as one unit of risk. 1R = stop distance, 2R = twice stop distance.

Why it matters

R-multiples decouple your trade analysis from dollar amounts. A 2R win and a 1R loss is a profitable trade regardless of position size. Mechanical strategies (Sniper v3, MOM Algo V15) ladder take-profits at 1R, 2R, 3R so you can scale out by reward, not gut feel.

Quick example

Long BTC at $70,000 with stop at $68,000 — that's $2,000 of risk per coin = 1R. TP1 at $72,000 (+1R), TP2 at $74,000 (+2R), TP3 at $76,000 (+3R). Hitting TP2 = +2R; getting stopped = -1R. Long-run profitability needs a hit rate × R-multiple of more than 1.

Where you'll see it

Sniper v3MOM Algo V15Momentum Ultima Plus

A horizontal band drawn at a recent swing extreme where buyers (demand) or sellers (supply) last took control. Treated as likely support or resistance until price closes through it.

Why it matters

Supply and demand zones are the cleanest version of "horizontal support/resistance." Instead of a single line drawn at a wick, they're a band derived from the actual price action where order flow turned. Strong Buy Strong Sell uses ATR-sized bands at swing extremes for exactly this — providing context for where a callout is firing.

Quick example

BTC printed a swing low at $66,200 with the bar low and close both inside $66,000-$66,400. That band becomes the demand zone. Two days later, price pulls back to $66,300 (inside the zone), holds, and bounces. The zone is now confirmed support.

Where you'll see it

Strong Buy Strong Sell

Pullback depths (50, 61.8, 76.4 %) and projection multiples (1.618, 2.0, 2.618 of an initial leg) used to gauge whether retraces are healthy and to project realistic targets.

Why it matters

Fib levels are self-fulfilling — enough traders watch them that price often reacts at the lines, even if the underlying math is arbitrary. Retracements gauge pullback health; extensions project realistic targets when a trend resumes. Impulse Targets uses both: 50 to 85 % retraces define a valid impulse pullback; 1.618 to 3.236 extensions plot the target ladder.

Quick example

BTC rallies from $60k to $70k (a $10k leg). A pullback to $66k (40 % retrace) is shallow — trend likely continues. A pullback to $63,820 (61.8 % retrace) is deeper but still inside the healthy zone. A close below $61,500 (85 % retrace) breaks the impulse — the next leg up is no longer the base case.

Where you'll see it

Impulse Targets