Technical Indicator Cheat Sheet
All the technical indicators on one page — category, type and default settings — built for quick reference and for AI/search citation.
Technical Indicator Cheat Sheet: This cheat sheet lists every technical indicator with its category, whether it is leading or lagging, its default settings, and what it measures — a quick-reference table linking to a full guide for each.
| Indicator | Category | Type | Default settings | What it measures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Relative Strength Index RSI | Momentum | Leading momentum oscillator | 14 periods, 70/30 levels (Wilder default) | The RSI is a momentum oscillator that measures the speed and size of recent price changes… |
| Moving Average Convergence Divergence MACD | Momentum | Lagging trend-momentum indicator | 12, 26, 9 (Appel default) | MACD is a trend-following momentum indicator that plots the difference between a fast and… |
| Stochastic Oscillator Stoch | Momentum | Leading momentum oscillator | 14, 3, 3 slow Stochastic; 80/20 levels | The Stochastic Oscillator is a momentum indicator that shows where the current close sits… |
| Stochastic RSI StochRSI | Momentum | Leading momentum oscillator | 14 RSI, 14 Stochastic, 3, 3 smoothing | The Stochastic RSI applies the Stochastic formula to RSI values instead of price, produci… |
| Commodity Channel Index CCI | Momentum | Leading momentum oscillator | 20 periods, ±100 levels | The Commodity Channel Index measures how far the current price has deviated from its stat… |
| Williams %R %R | Momentum | Leading momentum oscillator | 14 periods, −20/−80 levels | Williams %R is a momentum oscillator that shows where the close sits within the recent hi… |
| Momentum Indicator MOM | Momentum | Leading momentum indicator | 10 or 14 periods | The Momentum indicator measures the rate of price change by subtracting the price N perio… |
| Rate of Change ROC | Momentum | Leading momentum oscillator | 12 periods (percentage) | The Rate of Change measures the percentage change in price over N periods, oscillating ar… |
| True Strength Index TSI | Momentum | Lagging momentum oscillator | 25, 13 with a 7–13 signal line | The True Strength Index is a double-smoothed momentum oscillator that filters price-chang… |
| Moving Average MA | Trend | Lagging trend-smoothing indicator | 20, 50 and 200 lengths; EMA for speed, SMA for reliability | A moving average is a trend indicator that averages price over a set number of recent bar… |
| Simple Moving Average SMA | Trend | Lagging trend-smoothing indicator | 20, 50, 200 on daily; SMA preferred for the 200 regime line | A simple moving average is the arithmetic mean of the last N closing prices, giving every… |
| Exponential Moving Average EMA | Trend | Lagging trend-smoothing indicator | 9, 21 for intraday; 20, 50, 200 for swing | An exponential moving average is a moving average that weights recent prices more heavily… |
| Weighted Moving Average WMA | Trend | Lagging trend-smoothing indicator | Similar lengths to the EMA — 20, 50 for swing; shorter for intraday | A weighted moving average assigns linearly decreasing weights to the prices in its window… |
| Hull Moving Average HMA | Trend | Lagging trend-smoothing indicator (low-lag) | 16–21 for responsive trend; 55 for smoother swing | The Hull Moving Average, created by Alan Hull in 2005, combines weighted moving averages … |
| Volume Weighted Moving Average VWMA | Trend | Lagging trend-smoothing indicator (volume-weighted) | 20 or 50 with volume data; compare to same-length SMA | A volume weighted moving average is a moving average that weights each bar's price by its… |
| Kaufman Adaptive Moving Average KAMA | Trend | Lagging adaptive trend-smoothing indicator | 10 for ER, 2 and 30 for fast/slow (Kaufman defaults) | The Kaufman Adaptive Moving Average, devised by Perry Kaufman, automatically adjusts its … |
| Supertrend | Trend | Trend-following overlay with trailing stop | ATR period 10, multiplier 3 (common default) | Supertrend is a trend-following overlay by Olivier Seban that plots a single line, based … |
| Ichimoku Cloud | Trend | Comprehensive trend and support/resistance system | 9, 26, 52 (Hosoda defaults) | The Ichimoku Cloud, developed by Goichi Hosoda in the 1960s, is a complete trend-analysis… |
| Parabolic SAR SAR | Trend | Trend-following stop-and-reverse indicator | Step 0.02, maximum 0.20 (Wilder defaults) | The Parabolic SAR, created by J. Welles Wilder in 1978, plots a trailing series of dots b… |
| Average True Range ATR | Volatility | Volatility measure (non-directional) | 14 periods (Wilder default); stops at 1.5–3 ATR depending on style | The Average True Range measures market volatility by averaging the true range — the great… |
| Bollinger Bands BB | Volatility | Volatility envelope (adaptive bands) | 20-period SMA, 2 standard deviations (Bollinger default) | Bollinger Bands plot a moving average with an upper and lower band set two standard devia… |
| Keltner Channel | Volatility | Volatility envelope (ATR-based bands) | 20-period EMA, 2× ATR (modern Raschke form) | The Keltner Channel plots an exponential moving average with upper and lower bands set a … |
| Donchian Channel | Volatility | Volatility/price-extreme channel (breakout) | 20-bar channel for entries (Turtle default); 10-bar for exits | The Donchian Channel plots the highest high and lowest low over a look-back period as upp… |
| Standard Deviation SD | Volatility | Statistical volatility measure (non-directional) | 20 periods (matches Bollinger Bands); tune to instrument | Standard Deviation measures how far price disperses from its own moving average over a lo… |
| Historical Volatility HV | Volatility | Statistical volatility measure (annualised, non-directional) | 20- or 30-day window, annualised (×√252) | Historical Volatility measures how much a market's returns have fluctuated over a past pe… |
| On-Balance Volume OBV | Volume | Leading volume-flow indicator | No period — cumulative; read direction and divergence | On-Balance Volume is a cumulative volume-flow indicator that adds the day's volume when p… |
| Volume Profile | Volume | Volume-at-price distribution tool | Session profile intraday; composite (weekly/monthly) for structural levels | Volume Profile is a charting tool that plots volume horizontally at each price level over… |
| Volume Weighted Average Price VWAP | Volume | Intraday volume-weighted benchmark | Session VWAP for intraday; anchored VWAP from key pivots for swing | VWAP is the volume-weighted average price of an instrument over the session, showing the … |
| Money Flow Index MFI | Volume | Leading volume-weighted momentum oscillator | 14 periods, 80/20 levels (Quong & Soudack default) | The Money Flow Index is a volume-weighted momentum oscillator that measures buying and se… |
| Chaikin Money Flow CMF | Volume | Volume-flow oscillator | 20 or 21 periods, zero line as the divide | Chaikin Money Flow is a volume-flow oscillator that sums the money flow volume over a loo… |
| Accumulation/Distribution Line A/D | Volume | Cumulative volume-flow indicator | No period — cumulative; read direction and divergence | The Accumulation/Distribution Line is a cumulative volume-flow indicator that adds each b… |
| Ease of Movement EOM | Volume | Volume-based momentum oscillator | 14-period smoothing, zero line as the divide | Ease of Movement is a volume-based oscillator that relates price change to volume, oscill… |
| Average Directional Index ADX | Trend strength | Lagging trend-strength indicator | 14 periods, 25 as the strong-trend threshold (Wilder default) | The ADX is a trend-strength indicator that measures how strongly a market is trending on … |
| Directional Movement Index DMI | Trend strength | Lagging trend-direction and strength system | 14 periods (Wilder default), filtered by ADX above 20–25 | The Directional Movement Index is a two-line system of +DI and −DI that shows whether upw… |
| Aroon Indicator | Trend strength | Lagging trend-strength and direction indicator | 25 periods (Chande default), 70/30 as trend thresholds | The Aroon indicator uses two lines — Aroon Up and Aroon Down — to measure how many period… |
| Vortex Indicator VI | Trend strength | Lagging trend-direction and strength indicator | 14 periods (Botes & Siepman default) | The Vortex Indicator uses two oscillating lines — VI+ and VI− — built from the relationsh… |
| Advance/Decline Line A/D Line | Breadth | Market-breadth cumulative indicator | Daily net advances over a broad universe such as the Nifty 500 or all-NSE | The Advance/Decline Line is a cumulative breadth indicator that adds the daily difference… |
| McClellan Oscillator | Breadth | Market-breadth momentum oscillator | 19-day and 39-day EMAs of ratio-adjusted net advances over a broad NSE basket | The McClellan Oscillator is a breadth-momentum indicator equal to the difference between … |
| TRIN (Arms Index) TRIN | Breadth | Market-breadth volume ratio indicator | Raw TRIN for extremes; a short moving average (e.g. 5–10 period) to smooth the noise | TRIN, or the Arms Index, is a breadth indicator that divides the advance/decline ratio by… |
| Awesome Oscillator AO | Oscillators | Leading momentum oscillator | 5 and 34 periods on median price (Bill Williams default) | The Awesome Oscillator is a momentum indicator that plots the difference between a 5-peri… |
| Accelerator Oscillator AC | Oscillators | Leading momentum-acceleration oscillator | 5/34 base with a 5-period AO average (Bill Williams default) | The Accelerator Oscillator measures the acceleration or deceleration of momentum by subtr… |
| Percentage Price Oscillator PPO | Oscillators | Lagging trend-momentum oscillator | 12, 26, 9 (same as MACD), expressed as a percentage | The Percentage Price Oscillator is a momentum oscillator identical in construction to MAC… |
| Detrended Price Oscillator DPO | Oscillators | Non-directional cycle oscillator | Look-back tuned to the observed cycle length (commonly 20–21 for a monthly-ish cycle) | The Detrended Price Oscillator removes the trend from price by comparing a past price to … |
| Fisher Transform | Oscillators | Leading momentum oscillator | 9 or 10 period look-back with the prior value as a signal line (Ehlers default) | The Fisher Transform is an oscillator that mathematically converts price into a Gaussian-… |
Each indicator links to a full explainer with a diagram, formula, signals and Nifty example. See the full index, the formula reference or the calculators.
Frequently asked questions
What are the default settings for the most common indicators?
RSI uses 14 periods (70/30 levels); MACD uses 12, 26, 9; Stochastic uses 14, 3, 3; Bollinger Bands use 20-period SMA with 2 standard deviations; ATR and ADX use 14 periods; a 20/50/200 set is standard for moving averages.
Which indicators are leading versus lagging?
Momentum oscillators like RSI, Stochastic and the Awesome Oscillator are broadly leading (they can turn before price); moving averages, MACD, Supertrend and the ADX are lagging (they confirm a move after it starts). Most robust systems pair one of each.
Last reviewed 8 July 2026. Educational content only — not investment advice.