Measured indicator guides
Forex indicator settings, tested
Each guide starts with how the indicator works, then tests its periods, levels or triggers on the same historical data. Profitable and losing settings stay in the tables so the result can be checked rather than trusted.
Moving averages
Crosses, ribbon structure, averaging methods and distance from price.
- Is the Golden Cross Profitable on Forex? 280 Moving Average TestsA USD/JPY test of 280 moving-average crossover settings across 2024 and 2025, comparing periods, timeframes, win rates, SMA, EMA and three other methods.
- Moving Average Slope Settings: 2,100 TestsMoving average slope settings tested across periods, lookbacks and five MA methods, comparing USD/JPY annual returns, win rates, year transfers, filters and costs.
- SMA vs EMA: Which Moving Average Is More Profitable? 672 TestsThe simple and exponential moving average, head to head at identical periods on USD/JPY. The EMA finished ahead in 318 of 672: weights, drop-off and cost measured.
- GMMA Tested 216 Ways: Do 12 Moving Averages Beat 2?We thinned each GMMA ribbon from six lines to one while holding its mean period fixed across 216 USD/JPY runs. One line beat six in 21 of 36 matched comparisons.
- Perfect Order Moving Averages: 2,400 Settings TestedWe tested 2,400 perfect-order runs on USD/JPY across three timeframes. Of 200 settings, 157 stayed profitable in both years on M15, against 10 on H4.
- Alligator Periods and Shifts: 1,584 Settings Tested1,584 Alligator settings swept on USD/JPY with the forward shift taken out. The shift is a delay, not a forecast, and the mouth is open 80% of the year.
- MA Disparity Mean Reversion: 4,320 Settings Tested4,320 disparity index settings tested on USD/JPY. The 5% level textbooks quote was never reached on a 25-period line, and the zero line is a moving average crossover.
Bollinger Bands and ATR
Period, deviation, width and squeeze rules measured separately.
- Bollinger Bands: Mean Reversion or Breakout? 315 Settings TestedThe same bands traded both ways on USD/JPY across 2024 and 2025: a 60% win rate that loses money, a 40% one that makes it, and where the textbook 20 and 2σ landed.
- Bollinger Bands Period: Is 20 Really Best? 3,024 Settings TestedWe tested Bollinger Bands periods from 5 to 200 across seven deviations and three USD/JPY timeframes. Period 20 led hourly bars, but the winner changed by timeframe.
- Bollinger Bands: 1, 2 or 3 Standard Deviations? Backtest ResultsWe tested Bollinger Bands from 0.5 to 4 standard deviations on USD/JPY. The hourly breakout favored 1σ; wider fade settings failed to repeat across two years.
- Does the Bollinger BandWidth Squeeze Work? 4,032 Settings TestedWe tested 4,032 Bollinger BandWidth settings on USD/JPY. BBW levels changed by timeframe, and a 125-bar rolling low did not stay profitable across years.
- Squeeze Momentum by Timeframe: 45 Settings Tested45 Squeeze Momentum settings backtested on USD/JPY across 2025 and 2024. Four-hour bars fell from 26 profitable settings to 5, and 15-minute was its best.
- ATR Periods and Comparison Intervals: 720 Tests720 USD/JPY runs vary the ATR period and the bar it is compared with. The comparison interval moved trade counts and profit more than the ATR period did.
Oscillators
Overbought, oversold, zero-line and crossover rules, including losing settings.
- Is Buying RSI Below 30 Profitable? 330 Settings Tested on USD/JPYRSI run as a 30/70 fade and as a 50-line cross: 330 settings on USD/JPY, 2024 and 2025. The fade won 65% of its trades and lost money; the cross won 24% and made it.
- How Long Does RSI Stay Overbought? 3 Years of USD/JPY TestedRSI lengths 7 through 50 were tested above 70 and below 30 on USD/JPY and EUR/USD for 2023–2025. Persistence varied by pair, and no fade setting worked in both.
- Stoch RSI Crossovers by Timeframe: 36 Settings Tested36 Stoch RSI settings backtested on USD/JPY across 2025 and 2024. Only 3 of 36 came through both years on hourly bars and none on 15-minute; on four-hour bars, 30 did.
- Best Stochastic Settings: 2,700 Tests of K/D and Smoothing2,700 USD/JPY stochastic backtests compare K/D periods, smoothing and 20/80 fades, with win rates, year-to-year transfer and spread costs on the 1-hour chart.
- QQE Compared: 200 Settings Tested200 QQE parameter sets tested on USD/JPY in 2025 and 2024, comparing annual net pips, trade counts, win rates, timeframes, filters, and spread costs.
- RVI Periods and Spread Costs: 2 Years TestedTen RVI periods backtested on USD/JPY across 2025 and 2024: why a fourteen-fold change in the period barely moves the trade count, and why the spread then decides it.
- Williams %R Mean Reversion: 240 Settings Tested240 Williams %R settings backtested on USD/JPY across 2025 and 2024: win rates above 60% with negative results, and the win-to-loss size gap behind it.
- MFI Oversold Entry Frequency: 240 Settings Tested240 MFI settings on USD/JPY in 2024–2025: 137 four-hour settings took fewer than ten trades, while the textbook long reversed from +1,379.1 to −654.2 pips.
- Is the CCI ±100 Strategy Profitable? 2,448 Settings Tested2,448 CCI settings swept on USD/JPY: the line sits outside ±100 for 40% of the year, the breakout beat the fade everywhere, and the best reading is a moving average.
- MACD's Three Readings Tested: 2,052 Settings on USD/JPYThe histogram turn wins 53.7 to 60.9% of its trades and still loses money in 41 of 57 settings. The signal cross wins 33.5 to 40.5% and made money in all 57.
- OsMA by Timeframe: 54 Settings Tested54 OsMA parameter sets backtested on USD/JPY across 2025 and 2024. On hourly bars every one was profitable in both years; on 15-minute bars, 13 of 54 were.
- Accelerator Oscillator by Timeframe: 27 Settings Tested27 Accelerator Oscillator settings backtested on USD/JPY across 2025 and 2024. On hourly bars 24 of 27 were profitable in both years; on 15-minute bars, none were.
- STC Periods and Entry Levels: 72 Settings Tested72 Schaff Trend Cycle settings tested on USD/JPY in 2025 and 2024, comparing profitable counts, annual net pips, trade frequency, and the default.
- WaveTrend Settings and Timeframes: 30 Settings Tested30 WaveTrend settings backtested on USD/JPY across 2025 and 2024. All 30 were profitable on hourly bars in 2025, and the default placed second of them.
- Is the Psychological Line 75% Rule Profitable? 5,760 TestsA psychological line level of 75 is not 75%: on a 12-bar line it means 10 of 12. 5,760 USD/JPY backtests on periods, levels and readings.
- Is RCI Below -80 a Buy? 2,484 Backtests on USD/JPYRCI ranks the last N closes and drops the size of the move. The textbook buy below -80 is tested against the plain change over those closes and four other readings.
Trend
Trend indicators that flip direction, currency strength rankings, and chart types that redraw price (Heikin Ashi, Renko).
- Supertrend Periods and Multipliers: 36 Settings TestedAll 36 Supertrend period and multiplier combinations backtested on USD/JPY: the period changes almost nothing, and a profit factor of 5.04 came from fifteen trades.
- Aroon Periods and Timeframes: 84 Settings TestedWe tested 84 Aroon period, trigger and threshold combinations on USD/JPY across 2025 and 2024, including crossover versus level signals and timeframe differences.
- Parabolic SAR Settings by Timeframe: 36 Tests36 Parabolic SAR settings tested on USD/JPY, comparing profitable counts, annual net pips, the 0.02/0.20 default, win rates, filters, and costs.
- Are DMI/ADX DI Crossovers Profitable? 1,344 Settings TestedDMI/ADX periods, thresholds, DI crosses and DI comparison tested in 1,344 USD/JPY runs. The standard 14/25 hourly cross made 101 trades and lost 68.1 pips in 2025.
- Is the Ichimoku Three-Signal Buy Profitable? 280 Settings TestedWe tested Ichimoku's three-signal alignment and time theory on USD/JPY: 280 settings, and how often price turned on time-theory bar counts such as 9, 17 and 26.
- Is the Heikin Ashi Color Flip Profitable? 960 Settings TestedThe Heikin Ashi close is an average of four prices and not one of them. The same 6,107 trades came to −523 pips at the real close and +34,120 at the Heikin Ashi close.
- Is Trading Renko Reversals Profitable? 1,080 Settings TestedA Renko chart has one setting, and it is not the one that decided the result. Ten grid positions at a fixed 20-pip brick swung USD/JPY 2025 from +222 to +3,083 pips.
- Is Currency Strength Trading Profitable? 72 Settings TestedWe ranked eight currencies across 28 FX pairs. Buying the strongest was not profitable in both years in any setting; a daily 20-bar reversal held 12 bars was.
Combinations and pairs
Studies that combine published settings with something else: a second indicator, a filter, another pair.
- Does Combining RSI and Bollinger Bands Help? 720 BacktestsRSI below 30 plus a touch of the lower Bollinger band, tested on USD/JPY over two years against the only fair control: throwing away the same number of bars at random.
- Do Trend Filters Remove False Signals? 1,596 BacktestsTwo common filters, ADX at or above 25 and a rising average, tested on the 38 published settings against dropping the same number of trades at random.
- Do Indicator Settings Transfer Between Pairs? 3,024 TestsThe 44 settings this site has published were all chosen on USD/JPY. The 42 distinct ones were carried unchanged onto EUR/USD, GBP/USD and EUR/JPY for three years.
- Price Action or Indicators? 3,264 BacktestsEvery reading the Formiq tester ships, traded on the same bars with the same exit and the same spread. USD/JPY over 2024 and 2025, on three timeframes.
Market structure and levels
Market-structure and chart-level claims tested with fixed definitions, against ordinary price action as the control.
- Is SMC Profitable? 144 Backtests on USD/JPYA non-repainting test of SMC structure breaks and liquidity sweeps across 144 USD/JPY conditions, with two years, three timeframes and trading costs.
- Do Double Tops and Bottoms Reverse? 2 Years of USD/JPY TestedA two-year USD/JPY test of double tops and bottoms on M15, H1 and H4, measuring 10-bar reversals, pivot strength, neckline entries, win rates and exits.
- Does Fibonacci 61.8% Really Hold? 2 Years of USD/JPY TestedWhich Fibonacci retracement level actually holds? Every depth from 10% to 90%, measured across 6,266 USD/JPY swings: no canonical ratio beat the depth next door.
- Do Fair Value Gaps Really Fill? 2 Years of USD/JPY TestedFair value gaps open on a fifth of USD/JPY bars and 96–99% get filled. Bars that opened no gap were revisited just as often, and the median wait was two bars.
- Candlestick Pattern Win Rates: 17 Patterns TestedSeventeen candlestick patterns backtested on USD/JPY over three timeframes and two years, each measured against the bars that formed no pattern at all.
- Is the Engulfing Candle Profitable? 396 Backtests on USD/JPYEngulfing candle win rates on USD/JPY over two years, measured against the bars that flipped color without engulfing, with false-break rates and a tradable threshold.
- Morning Star and Evening Star: Do They Reverse? 240 BacktestsMorning star and evening star win rates on USD/JPY over two years, with the gap the pattern is named for counted: it appeared 0 times in 4,558 signals.
- Is the Inside Bar Breakout Profitable? 192 BacktestsInside bar breakout win rates on USD/JPY over two years, measured against the same level cleared with no contained bar before it, plus the fade and the outside bar.
- Is the Pin Bar Profitable? 252 Backtests on USD/JPYPin bar win rates on USD/JPY over two years across every wick-to-body ratio from 1 to 5, and what happens when the wick is measured against the bar's range instead.
- Do Support and Resistance Lines Work? 5,184 BacktestsA horizontal line is drawn where price has already turned. Whether the number of turns matters, measured on USD/JPY against a placebo line and a reshuffled series.