Understand the indicator. Then query it.
A practical library for learning technical indicators from first principles — what each calculation measures, how the formula works, how to interpret it across timeframes, common combinations, and how to access the same data through the TickAtlas API.
What are you trying to measure?
Technical indicators make more sense when you begin with their purpose. Use the 4 families below to choose the right type of calculation before comparing individual formulas.
Trend
Describe direction, smooth price noise and measure the strength or structure of an existing move.
Momentum & oscillators
Measure the speed and persistence of price changes, often on bounded or centerline-based scales.
Volatility
Quantify how widely price is moving without necessarily telling you which direction the market is going.
Volume
Use trading activity or tick participation to add context to price movement and accumulation/distribution.
From concept to implementation.
The Learn pages are designed to answer the educational question first, then bridge directly into software implementation without forcing you to hunt through separate documentation.
Understand
What the indicator measures, what inputs it uses, and why the calculation exists.
Calculate
The core formula, default periods and the moving parts behind multi-component indicators.
Interpret
Thresholds, centerlines, crossovers, market conditions, combinations and common mistakes.
Query
A direct path from the explanation to the TickAtlas API, including example parameters and response fields.
Browse the published guides.
Search by indicator name or abbreviation, or filter by family. Each guide includes educational material and a path to the corresponding API workflow.
Showing all 22 published indicator guides.
Trend indicators
Identify direction, smooth noise and describe trend structure or strength.
- SMA
Simple Moving Average
Arithmetic average of closing prices over the lookback period.
Trend · single-value output - EMA
Exponential Moving Average
Weighted moving average that gives more weight to recent prices.
Trend · single-value output - MACD
MACD
Difference between fast and slow EMAs with a signal line and histogram.
Trend · 3-component output - ADX
Average Directional Index
Measures trend strength regardless of direction with +DI and -DI lines.
Trend · 3-component output - Ichimoku
Ichimoku Cloud
Conversion, base and leading-span A lines for trend, support and resistance.
Trend · 3-component output - Alligator
Alligator
Three smoothed moving averages that visualise trending vs ranging regimes.
Trend · 3-component output - SAR
Parabolic SAR
Trailing stop-and-reverse indicator that flips on trend reversals.
Trend · single-value output - TEMA
Triple Exponential Moving Average
Reduced-lag moving average that triples EMA smoothing.
Trend · single-value output - DEMA
Double Exponential Moving Average
Twice-smoothed EMA that reacts faster to price changes.
Trend · single-value output
Momentum & oscillator indicators
Measure momentum, extremes and the speed of changes around bounded ranges or centerlines.
- RSI
Relative Strength Index
Momentum oscillator measuring speed and change of price movements between 0 and 100.
Momentum · single-value output - Stoch
Stochastic Oscillator
Compares closing price to a price range over a given period.
Momentum · 2-component output - CCI
Commodity Channel Index
Measures deviation of price from its statistical mean.
Momentum · single-value output - Williams %R
Williams %R
Momentum indicator measuring overbought and oversold levels.
Momentum · single-value output - Momentum
Momentum
Rate of price change over the lookback period.
Momentum · single-value output - DeM
DeMarker
Identifies price exhaustion zones based on intra-bar price comparisons.
Momentum · single-value output
Volatility indicators
Describe the magnitude, dispersion or envelope of price movement independent of directional bias.
- BB
Bollinger Bands
Upper, middle, and lower bands plus bandwidth derived from price standard deviation.
Volatility · 4-component output - ATR
Average True Range
Average of true range over the lookback period, expressing realised volatility.
Volatility · single-value output - StdDev
Standard Deviation
Statistical measure of price dispersion around its mean.
Volatility · single-value output
Volume indicators
Use transaction or tick activity to add participation and flow context to price movement.
- OBV
On-Balance Volume
Cumulative volume flow that confirms or diverges from price action.
Volume · single-value output - MFI
Money Flow Index
Volume-weighted RSI measuring buying and selling pressure.
Volume · single-value output - A/D
Accumulation/Distribution
Volume-based line that gauges accumulation or distribution by smart money.
Volume · single-value output - Tick Vol
Tick Volume
Number of price changes per bar — a proxy for true volume in OTC markets.
Volume · single-value output
No guide matches that search. Try a broader term, or clear the family filter.
Choose the family before the formula.
Different indicators answer different questions. Combining several calculations that all measure the same thing often adds complexity rather than new information.
| Family | Primary question | Typical output | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trend | Where is price moving, and how established is the move? | Averages, lines, directional components | SMA · EMA · MACD · ADX · Ichimoku |
| Momentum | How fast or persistently is price changing? | Bounded scales or centerline oscillators | RSI · Stoch · CCI · Williams %R · Momentum |
| Volatility | How large or dispersed are recent price moves? | Ranges, bands, statistical dispersion | BB · ATR · StdDev |
| Volume | How much participation accompanies the move? | Cumulative flow or activity measures | OBV · MFI · A/D · Tick Vol |
The educational layer connects directly to the API layer.
When a guide clicks, the next step should be obvious. Each indicator page moves from explanation and formula into the exact endpoint, symbol, indicator key and timeframe used by your application.
RSI core formula
RSI = 100 - (100 / (1 + RS)) where RS = Average Gain / Average Loss Step 1: Calculate average gain and loss over N periods (default N=14)
import requests url = "https://tickatlas.com/v1/indicator" headers = {"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"} params = { "symbol": "EURUSD", "indicator": "RSI_14", "timeframe": "H1" } response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, params=params) data = response.json() # Same concept you just learned, now machine-readable. print(data)
Three ways into the library.
The indicator hub guides readers by intent instead of forcing everyone through the same alphabetical catalog.
New to technical indicators
Begin with moving averages and RSI, then add volatility and trend-strength context.
Building a data-driven application
Learn one indicator from each family so your feature set contains complementary rather than redundant signals.
Technical indicators, explained plainly.
Short answers to the questions readers usually have before choosing a guide or implementing an indicator.
What is a technical indicator?
A technical indicator is a mathematical transformation of market data such as price, range or volume. Some are designed to describe trend, some momentum, some volatility and some participation. An indicator summarizes a property of the data; it does not change the underlying market information.
Why are there 22 guides but 42 indicator series?
They count different things. A guide covers one indicator — 22 of them, grouped into 4 families. A series is one individual named value the API returns, and a single indicator usually publishes several: a moving average is served at each of its default periods, MACD returns its main, signal and histogram lines, and Bollinger Bands return upper, middle, lower and width. Those add up to 42 series.
Which indicator should I learn first?
SMA or EMA is a good starting point for trend concepts, RSI for momentum, ATR for volatility, and OBV or MFI for participation. Learning one indicator from each family is usually more useful than learning several closely related calculations at once.
Do the guides include formulas and code?
Yes. The detailed pages explain the indicator, show its calculation, discuss interpretation and timeframes, and include an example of accessing the corresponding data through the TickAtlas API.
Are technical indicators investment advice?
No. The guides explain mathematical indicators, historical data transformations and software-access patterns. They are educational and technical resources rather than personalized investment recommendations.
Read the formula. Understand the output. Put it in your application.
Use the Learn library for the concepts, then move into the TickAtlas documentation when you are ready to query pre-calculated indicators across supported symbols and timeframes.