Signal Methodology, How We Generate Trading Signals

Every signal on SignalsTrades checks 12 independent market rules simultaneously. Rules that vote in the same direction increase the confidence score. A signal is only issued when at least 4 rules agree. Here is how each rule works.

#RuleWhat it checksBUY fires whenSELL fires when
1RSI14-period Relative Strength Index on daily closesRSI < 30 (oversold)RSI > 70 (overbought)
2Fear & GreedCNN Fear & Greed Index (0-100 market sentiment scale)Index < 25 (extreme fear, contrarian buy)Index > 75 (extreme greed, contrarian sell)
3Price Momentum5-day average close vs 20-day average close5d avg > 20d avg (upward momentum)5d avg < 20d avg (downward momentum)
4Session OpenProximity to a major trading session open (London, New York, Tokyo, Sydney)Within 60 minutes of session open, price trending upWithin 60 minutes of session open, price trending down
5Round LevelDistance from the nearest major round number (psychological level)Price within 15 pips below a round level (support)Price within 15 pips above a round level (resistance)
6USD Broad TrendDirection of the US Dollar across 5 major pairs (EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/USD, USD/CAD)4 or more pairs show USD weakening4 or more pairs show USD strengthening
7Historical S/RSwing highs and lows from 30 days of daily closesPrice bouncing off historical support levelPrice rejecting historical resistance level
8Win StreakDirection of the last 3 closed signals for this pair2 of the last 3 signals were winning BUY signals2 of the last 3 signals were winning SELL signals
9News SentimentRecent financial news headlines for this currency pair (last 24 hours)Majority of headlines positive for base currencyMajority of headlines negative for base currency
10Calendar EventsScheduled high-impact economic events (NFP, FOMC, CPI, GDP)Upcoming high-impact event historically positive for base currencyUpcoming high-impact event historically negative for base currency
11Gold CorrelationXAU/USD price trend as a safe-haven indicatorGold rising and pair positively correlated with goldGold falling and pair positively correlated with gold
12Triangle BreakoutPrice range compression over 14 sessions (converging highs and lows)Range compressed and price breaks upwardRange compressed and price breaks downward

Confidence score

The confidence score reflects what percentage of the 12 rules voted in the signal direction. A score of 58% means 7 of 12 rules agreed. A score of 83% means 10 of 12 agreed. SignalsTrades does not issue a signal unless a minimum threshold is reached. Higher confidence scores historically correlate with better outcomes, but no score guarantees a result.

Entry, take profit, and stop loss

Entry price is the live market price at the time the signal is generated. Take profit (TP) and stop loss (SL) are calculated using Average True Range (ATR) over 14 periods:

This produces a 1:1.5 risk-reward ratio on every signal. Over time, a strategy with a 1:1.5 ratio produces positive expectancy even at win rates below 50%.

Data sources

Live prices are fetched from Yahoo Finance. RSI, momentum, and support/resistance calculations use daily close data. The Fear & Greed Index is sourced from the CNN Money API. News sentiment uses headline scraping from financial news aggregators.

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