The Indicators Worth Backtesting
Standard studies, ICT concepts, and indicators built with AI — plot them on your charts, then test how they'd have performed.
Order Block
The last opposing candle before a strong move away, treated as a zone where larger orders were filled.
Tip: Mark the candle body, not the wick, for a tighter zone.
Best used with: Fair Value Gap, Break of Structure
Break of Structure
Price closing beyond the prior swing high or low, used to mark when a trend is continuing rather than reversing.
Tip: A close beyond the swing counts; a wick alone doesn't.
Best used with: Swing Points, Order Block
Supply and Demand Zones
Price areas that produced a sharp reaction before, marked out as levels where the same reaction may repeat.
Tip: Zones age — the first retest is usually the strongest.
Best used with: Fair Value Gap, Trading Sessions
Swing Points
The three-bar highs and lows that define market structure, and the reference every structure-based method is built on.
Tip: Use a fixed lookback so structure reads the same way every time.
Best used with: Break of Structure, Central Pivot Range
Trading Sessions
London, New York and Asia session boundaries drawn on the chart, used to read when volatility usually arrives.
Tip: The London/New York overlap is where most range expansion happens.
Best used with: VWAP, 90-Minute Cycles
90-Minute Cycles
A fixed time grid that splits the session into 90-minute blocks, used to anchor when a setup is expected rather than where.
Tip: Treat a cycle boundary as a time to watch, not a signal to act on.
Best used with: Trading Sessions, Swing Points
VWAP
Volume weighted average price: the average price paid over a session, weighted by how much traded at each level.
Tip: Resets each session — compare price to it, not to yesterday's line.
Best used with: Trading Sessions, RSI
RSI
Relative strength index: a 0-100 oscillator comparing the size of recent gains to recent losses.
Tip: Overbought or oversold means little without a trend filter behind it.
Best used with: VWAP, Central Pivot Range
Central Pivot Range
Three levels derived from the previous session's high, low and close, read as a rough value area for the day ahead.
Tip: A narrow CPR often precedes a wider range day.
Best used with: VWAP, Swing Points
What this library is for
Most indicator explanations either restate the formula or promise a win rate. This library does neither. Each entry explains what the indicator measures, what it misses, and how to check whether it holds up on the markets and timeframes you actually trade.
Entries are written for self-directed traders — from someone drawing their first fair value gap to someone auditing a rule they have traded for a year. Assume no jargon is required, and no prior system is assumed.
The order matters: read the entry, then test the idea on past price before it goes anywhere near a live account. An indicator that reads well on a chart you have already seen is not evidence. Backtesting is where an indicator earns a place in a plan, or loses one.
Frequently asked
What is the best trading indicator?
There isn't one. Indicators measure different things — momentum, imbalance, structure, time — and the useful question is which one answers the question you actually have about a market. An indicator that suits a trending futures contract can be close to useless on a ranging pair, and the only way to know is to test it on the instrument and timeframe you trade.
Are ICT indicators different from classical indicators?
In practice, yes. Classical indicators like RSI or VWAP are calculations applied to price and volume, and they produce a line or a number. ICT and smart money concepts — fair value gaps, order blocks, break of structure — are pattern definitions applied to raw candles, and they produce a zone or a marker. Both are rules you can state precisely, so both can be tested the same way.
How many indicators should I use at once?
Fewer than most charts show. Two indicators that measure the same thing — say two momentum oscillators — will agree with each other most of the time and give you false confidence rather than a second opinion. If you add one, be able to say what question it answers that nothing else on the chart already answers.
Do indicators work on every market and timeframe?
No, and assuming they do is a common way to lose money. An indicator's behaviour depends on the volatility, session structure and liquidity of the instrument. Something tuned on a 5-minute index future can behave completely differently on a daily equity chart. Test it on the exact market and timeframe you intend to trade.
How do I test whether an indicator actually works?
Write the rule down so precisely that someone else could apply it without asking you a question, then run it over past price and record every trade it would have produced — including the losers. Traders Journal's backtesting lets you step through history bar by bar with the indicator on the chart, so you get a real sample instead of a memory of the setups that worked.
Are these indicators built into Traders Journal?
Several are. Fair value gaps, sessions, 90-minute cycles, swing points, supply and demand zones, VWAP, RSI and the central pivot range are available as built-in studies you can turn on inside the charts and backtesting workspace. This library explains the concepts; the product is where you test them.
Will more indicators be added to this library?
Yes. Entries are added as they're written and reviewed, not promised ahead of time. The queue section on this page names what's next without attaching a date to it.
Test an indicator before you trade it
Reading about an indicator on charts you have already seen proves nothing. Traders Journal steps through price history bar by bar with the built-in studies on the chart, so you record every setup a rule produced — including the ones that failed. Don't see the indicator you use — describe it to our AI Indicator Builder and it writes the study for you.
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