Academy
Plain explanations of the indicators behind the Simulator's strategy templates — built out step by step on real market data, with charts you can play and pull apart.
- Beginner11 min readBollinger Bands, Drawn OutHow Bollinger Bands are actually computed and read, explained with animated charts drawn over real market data — the squeeze, %B, and the common misreadings.
- Beginner10 min readMoving Averages, Drawn OutHow SMA, EMA, WMA and HMA actually differ, and what a golden or death cross really is — explained with animated charts over real market data.
- Beginner11 min readRSI, Drawn OutHow RSI is computed and what it actually measures — and why "overbought" is not a sell signal, shown with animated charts over real market data.
- Intermediate10 min readMACD, Drawn OutMACD is two moving averages subtracted — what that means, how signal-line and zero-line crossings differ, and why MACD has no overbought level.
- Intermediate10 min readThe Stochastic Oscillator, Drawn OutWhat %K actually measures, why it and RSI reach opposite conclusions on identical data, and why stochastic crossings fire so often.
- Intermediate11 min readADX and DMI, Drawn OutADX measures trend strength, not direction — why that distinction matters, what +DI and −DI are for, and why ADX always arrives late.
- Intermediate12 min readATR and Exit Rules, Drawn OutWhat ATR measures, and how a trailing stop, a hard stop-loss and a take-profit each behave — compared on one real trade.
- Intermediate10 min readSupertrend, Drawn OutHow Supertrend is built from ATR bands, what the ratchet and the flip actually do, and what its bearish side means in a long-only system.
- Intermediate7 min readThe Keltner Channel, Drawn OutHow the Keltner channel differs from Bollinger — ATR against standard deviation, two rulers for one question, compared on real data.
- Beginner7 min readThe Donchian Channel, Drawn OutThe simplest channel there is — no average, no volatility estimate — and why a close structurally cannot finish outside it.
- Intermediate8 min readThe Gaussian Channel, Drawn OutA channel built on an Ehlers recursive filter — less lag, narrower bands, and not designed to contain price at all.
- Intermediate8 min readVWAP, and Why the Timeframe Decides ItWhat session VWAP actually averages, why it restarts every midnight, and why the same rule falls apart on 4h bars but works on 30m — shown on real data.
- Beginner7 min readVolume and OBV, Drawn OutWhat the volume filter's multiplier and lookback actually change, how OBV accumulates, and what it means when price and OBV pull apart — on real data.
- Intermediate8 min readExtra Entries: V-Shape Recovery and Early MomentumUnlike every other filter, these two blocks add a buy signal rather than narrowing one. What they measure, what the settings do, and the default that quietly fires nothing.
- Intermediate9 min readIchimoku, Drawn OutHow the four lines are built, why the cloud is drawn past the last candle, and why two thirds of bullish crosses never become entries — shown on real data.
More indicator lessons are on the way.