FINETIQ IDEAS
An open library of trading ideas with pseudocode for TradingView, EasyLanguage and MetaTrader 5.
MACD-V: MACD normalized by volatility
The difference between the 12 and 26 EMAs divided by ATR. Values are comparable across markets and years, so general rules can be built on them: momentum zones, pullbacks in a bull regime, a simple momentum system on the DAX.
School Run: breakout of the second 15-minute candle after the open
Pending orders beyond the high and low of the second 15-minute candle of an index cash session. A breakout beyond the overnight range is traded in its direction, a signal inside the range can be reversed.
Drift VWAP Pullback: a pullback to VWAP in the direction of the day on NQ
When price is above a rising VWAP and has gained 0.1% over the hour, buy the first red 5-minute candle. Short targets, a wide stop and daily limits. The author built the system to pass prop firm challenges.
Always in the market: reversal on an N-day breakout
A position is always open: a long is held until a new N-day low, where it reverses into a short, and vice versa. Marc Malek tested N from 1 to 200 and got the best risk-adjusted result at about 70 days.
Channel breakout: whichever triggers first, Donchian or Keltner
Entry on a 20-day channel breakout, exit on a 40-day downside breakout. Of two channels, Donchian and Keltner, the one price touches first gives the signal. Antonacci tested it on 48 US sectors over 100 years, Basso trades a 9-day version.
Turtles: 4-week breakout, 2-week exit
Long on a 20-bar high breakout, exit on a 10-bar low breakout. Two rules and two parameters. Brent Penfold advises measuring any trend strategy of your own against it, Kevin Davey shows a simple 20-bar breakout without filters.
Price above the average: on, below: off
Above a long moving average, hold the position; below it, move to cash or go short. Three versions: QQQ and the 225-day average, bitcoin and the 50-day, 22 futures and the annual average of the MLM Index.
Breakout of the 100/200-day high, exit on a close below MA10
Buy when the close is above the 100- or 200-day high (the all-time high is strongest), exit on a close below the 10-day average. Nick Radge's variant: the same breakout, a regime filter and a trailing stop not based on an average.
Continuous breakout: position size from where price sits in the range
A position builds as soon as price is above the middle of the N-day range and doubles at its edge. Rob Carver trades futures this way without stop-losses: on a pullback the forecast falls and the position shrinks by itself.
EMA crossover as a continuous forecast: six speeds in one number
The difference between a fast and a slow EMA, normalized by volatility, becomes a forecast from −20 to +20. The position is proportional to the forecast, with no stop. Rob Carver averages six speed pairs and trades 200+ futures this way.
Kaufman's Adaptive Moving Average (KAMA): crossover and 2026 parameters
The average speeds up in a trend and slows down in noise, via the Efficiency Ratio. Kevin Davey compared entries on price crossing KAMA and an SMA on ES. For trend following Perry Kaufman now uses a period of 60 and a slower fast end.
Kaufman filter: entry after the average moves away from its last turn
The average has turned up, but a buy is allowed only after it moves away from the turning point by more than a threshold. In Kevin Davey's test on 44 futures, the filter cut trend trades almost threefold and hurt the countertrend entry.
20-day average and a neighborhood test: discard, don't tune
Always in the market on a close above or below the 20-day average. The system comes with John Bollinger's protocol: run lengths 16–24 and discard the whole system if the results differ noticeably.
Gold and silver: monthly MACD and RSI above 55
Monthly chart of gold or silver. Buy when MACD crosses above its signal line and RSI is above 55 in the same month. Exit on a break of the low of the month in which MACD crossed down. According to the author, seven trades in 50 years.
Weekly breakout from a sideways box: eight criteria and a stop in the middle
A stock above its 20-week average, at least 6 weeks in a range, a week closing 1% above the box with a 5–20% gain and volume +30%. Entry the following week, stop in the middle third of the box, exit by MACD.
Weinstein stages: a regime filter and a breakout in Stage 2
A classifier of the four cycle stages based on weekly 10, 20, 30 and 40 SMAs. Buying is allowed only in Stage 2, entry on a base breakout with volume twice the average, exit below the 30-week average.
Crabel compression: NR4, ID/NR4 and an opening range breakout with stretch
After a compression day (NR4, NR7, inside day, ID/NR4), place stop orders beyond the opening range at a stretch distance. Variants: a daily entry through the high of a narrow bar and Trader X's hourly compression on ES and NQ.
Bollinger squeeze: band width at its 125-bar low
The squeeze as Bollinger defines it: band width at its lowest in 125 bars. Bollinger did not name the breakout direction, so we formalize the entry and exit. Variants: bands inside Keltner and the weekly TTM Squeeze.
Qullamaggie momentum breakout: a base after a rally and a stop within ADR
A stock has risen 30-100% in 1-3 months and builds a tight base on rising averages. Entry on a break of the high of the day's first minutes, stop at the low of the day no wider than ADR, partial exit after 3-5 days, the rest on EMA 10.
Espresso: a bracket around the candle that closes at the index open
Stop orders above and below the candle that closes exactly at the DAX or Dow open, with a wide offset. The goal is to get into a trend day earlier than School Run. Parameters differ between streams, and the only backtest is short.
Rule of four: a breakout of the fourth candle after the news
After a news release, Tom Hougaard counts four candles (10 minutes on FOMC, 5 minutes on NFP, CPI, PPI) and trades a breakout of the fourth one in either direction. Stop at the other end of the candle, stop to breakeven at +30 points.
First-hour breakout 9:30–10:30 ET: 1 ATR stop, one trade per day
The high and low from 9:30 to 10:30 ET, entry on the first touch of either boundary. A 1 ATR stop, one trade per day, exit at the end of the session. A prop firm showed this structure as an example for a challenge.
15-minute opening range breakout with acceptance by the candle body
The range of the first 15 minutes of the cash session, entry only after a candle closes with its body beyond the boundary. Order-flow scalpers confirm the breakout with large trades in the body; bars leave candle shape and volume.
Prior day high breakout with daily ADX(5) below 35
Buy with a stop order on a breakout of the prior session high, exit at the end of the day. Enter only if the daily ADX(5) is below 35. Toby Crabel adds figures on the decay of this breakout: 56% continuations before, 52 or 51% now.
Intraday stop-order breakout, ATR stop, end-of-day exit
The framework of Brendan's (Trivium) 30+ intraday SQX strategies: stop-order entry on a breakout, ATR stop, no target, close at the end of the day. Specific entries are not disclosed; the breakout level in the card is by Finetiq.
PDH/PDL break and retest: engulfing candle entry after a flag
No entry on the breakout of yesterday's high. Wait for a pullback to the level on the 2-minute chart, a flag and a candle that engulfs the pullback. Stop beyond the retest zone, first target at the breakout extreme.
Inside bar: level breakout, retest as support and a 30% daily ATR target
A daily inside bar as a sign of consolidation. A level with two or three touches is broken, and price returns to it from above: entry on the retest. Stop beyond the nearest swing, first target at 30% of the average daily range.
NQ 80/20: fading the …80 and …20 levels with a 10-point stop
NQ prices ending in 80 and 20 as reversion levels. Entry on a candle structure at the level, stop always 10 points, first target 15 points, then breakeven. The author trades 10-minute and 200-second bars.
ICT: liquidity sweep, 4H FVG inversion and an inversion entry on 1-5 minutes
After a major liquidity sweep, price closes through a 4-hour FVG. A pullback into the 15-minute gap, market entry on the inversion of a 1-5 minute gap, stop above the 15-minute high, target at opposing liquidity.
Fed day: buy after fear the day before, exit before 14:00 ET
Rob Hanna: Fed decision days are bullish on average, more so after a sell-off the day before. Buy at the close before the decision if the index closed at a 3-, 5- or 10-day low, exit before the 14:00 ET release.
Prior day extreme raid and reclaim of the level (SFP, 2B)
Price moves past the prior day low or high, where stops sit, and closes back inside. Entry in the direction of the reclaim, stop beyond the new extreme. Variants: Trader Vic's 2B on daily stock charts and Crabel's fade of 1-2 day extremes.
Deviation from MA5 several times larger than usual: entry without confirmation
Pavel Kycek: each day, measure how far the close is from the 5-day average. When the deviation is about three times the usual, enter against the move at once, without waiting for a reversal. Exit after 1-4 days or at the average.
Buying the 5-day low with an exit above MA5 and a market filter
Rob Hanna: buy a close at a 5-day low and exit when price closes above the 5-day average, if the market is on your side. Hanna describes the filter in words; Laurens Bensdorp gives a number: S&P 500 above MA40.
Three higher closes in a row: selling the pullback based on streak statistics
After three daily closes in a row, each above the previous one, look to sell the pullback. Based on a broker's tip to Brent Penfold and on Penfold's close streak statistics: about 2.4 days on all markets. We set the entry, stop and exit.
Bollinger W-bottom: two lows at the lower band and a chandelier stop
The first low goes outside the lower Bollinger Band, the second stays inside it. We enter only after the reversal is confirmed and manage the position with a chandelier stop. The search for lows and the confirmation are our formalization.
A ladder of entries by standard deviations: scaling in and out in parts
A position against a stretch from the average is built in parts at 0.25, 0.5, 1 SD and beyond, and scaled out in parts on the way back. Alan Clement's variant: a pullback in a stock uptrend, buying into the decline, adding, no stops.
Gap down and a reversal at the 21 EMA or 50 SMA: buying above the bar's high
A stock in an uptrend gaps down near the 21 EMA or 50 SMA, opens almost at the day's low and closes near the high. Buy with a stop order above the bar's high, stop below the low, risk no more than the 20-day ADR%.
The 1% rule: S&P 500 and VIX moved in the same direction on the day
If the S&P 500 and VIX both rose 1% or more on the day, Dylan O'Neal expects a pullback and sells from resistance. If both fell 1%, the author expects a bounce from support. We set the levels, stop and exit.
Dual momentum: absolute first, then relative
Once a month: if the stock market beats T-bills, hold the strongest of the index ETFs, otherwise move to bonds. Leslie Masonson's variant: each month hold QQQ or TLT, whichever has the higher 3-month return.
Chandelier: a trailing stop from the trade's extreme at a distance in ATR
A long's stop sits several ATR below the highest high since entry and follows price up. In high volatility it moves away, in low volatility it tightens. Richard Brennan exits trends this way; we set the parameters.
Partial exit to zero risk (free roll)
Part of the position is sold where the locked-in profit equals the risk on the remainder: half at 1R, a third at 2R or a quarter at 3R. After that the trade's worst outcome is about zero, not counting costs and gaps.
Trailing on a close below EMA 10 or EMA 20: choosing the average by ADR%
An exit block for trending stocks: a fast stock with ADR% of 10% or more exits on the first close below EMA 10, a slow one on a close below EMA 20. Plus variants from Jack Corsellis (partial exits at 10, 21 and 50) and Qullamaggie.
Random entry, ATR trailing stop and equal risk: testing where the edge really is
Tom Basso's experiment: a coin-flip entry, a trailing stop at 1-2 ATR and the same percentage risk on 20 futures, 1000 runs. The card describes how to repeat the experiment reproducibly and use it as a benchmark for your own entry.
Early breakeven and adding only to winners
A management layer on top of any entry: stop to breakeven after +30-50 points, add the same unit only when the position is already risk-free, never add to a loser. According to Tom Hougaard, this is where the main edge lies.
ATR size fixed at entry versus daily vol-targeting
Takahé Capital calculate position size by ATR once at entry, from notional equity based on closed trades, and do not recalculate it until the exit. The card defines the block and a fair comparison with daily volatility adjustment.
Daily limits: trade cap, losing streak and stopping after a win
Five traders from the IQ Capital channel limit their day in similar ways: no more than 3-4 trades, stop after two losses in a row, for some an exit after the first or second win and a trading window. A block for any intraday system.
Retiring a strategy for good at a drawdown 1.5 times the historical one
Andrea Unger retires a system for good when its out-of-sample drawdown is 50% above the historical one or a flat period drags on. The backtest drawdown is itself understated, so the threshold base needs careful calculation.
Index regime: monthly EMA 10 and weekly EMA 10 and 20
New buys are allowed while the NASDAQ Composite closed last month above its monthly EMA 10, or while the index's weekly EMA 10 is above EMA 20. The filter goes on top of any long strategy on stocks or an index.
Zero-parameter filters and a library of prior-day conditions
Yes-or-no conditions on top of any entry: yesterday closed up, the close is above the 200-day average. Andrea Unger tests such conditions one at a time on a simple skeleton and keeps only the ones that can be explained.
Crash insurance: shorting the index after a close below EMA 100
A trend-following short on an index future after a close below the 100-day EMA, with a trailing stop. Laurens Bensdorp keeps it as insurance for a long portfolio and judges it by bear markets, not by returns.