FAQ

FAQ

Quick answers to the questions people ask most often. Each answer gives you the short version and points to the page that explains it fully.

Why does this go from -100 to +100 instead of 0 to 100?

The oscillator converts standard RSI to a bipolar scale where zero is the neutral center. RSI 50 becomes 0, RSI 100 becomes +100, RSI 0 becomes -100. The conversion makes the zero line meaningful and keeps the scale symmetric around center. See For the Geeks for the full explanation and a conversion table.

What does +70 on this oscillator mean in normal RSI terms?

Approximately RSI 85. The default overbought level on this oscillator is much more extreme than the traditional RSI 70. If you want something closer to the standard RSI 70 overbought level, set it to +40. See the conversion table in For the Geeks and the OB/OS section in Settings.

What does "RSI Type" actually change? I thought RSI was just RSI.

RSI Type selects the moving average used to smooth the raw RSI. It does not change the RSI calculation itself. "RSI Type: EMA" means "smooth the raw RSI with an EMA," not "use a different RSI formula." The naming is confusing, but the raw RSI is always the same standard algorithm regardless of this setting. See For the Geeks for the full smoothing chain explanation.

If I set a slot's weight to 0, does it still do anything?

Yes. A slot at weight 0 still calculates, still plots on the chart, and still fires alerts. The only thing weight 0 removes is the slot's contribution to the blended composite. This is different from disabling the slot entirely — a disabled slot does nothing at all. See the weight section in Settings.

Can I use this on a daily chart?

Yes, but every slot's timeframe must be equal to or higher than the daily timeframe. With the default slot timeframes (5m, 15m, 60m), the indicator will throw a runtime error on a daily chart because all three slots are set lower than the chart. You would need to raise the slot timeframes — for example, to Daily, Weekly, and Monthly — to use the indicator on a daily chart. Keep in mind that a Daily/Weekly/Monthly spread behaves very differently from the intraday defaults: updates are far less frequent, and the highest-timeframe slot may hold steady for weeks at a time with On Bar Close on.

Does this indicator repaint?

It depends on the On Bar Close setting. With On Bar Close on (the default), the indicator does not repaint. It uses the last confirmed higher-timeframe bar's data, so what you see live is what the chart shows in history. With On Bar Close off, the indicator updates intrabar from the building higher-timeframe bar, which means the display can change retroactively when the bar closes. That is repainting by design, not a bug. See MTF and Repainting for the full explanation.

Which MA type should I use for RSI smoothing?

There is no universally correct answer. SMA and EMA are solid starting points for most users. SMA is the most predictable — equal weight to all periods, stable lag. EMA gives slightly more weight to recent values, making it a bit faster. The other types (HMA, ALMA, RMA, etc.) have specific characteristics that matter if you know what you are looking for, but they are not necessary for getting good use from the indicator. See the RSI Type section in Settings for a comparison.

Is the blended line just an average of the three slot lines?

It is a weighted average of the contributing slots' RSI values (and separately, their Signal values). The weights are set per slot and normalized automatically — they do not need to sum to a specific number. A slot at weight 0 is excluded from the blend. The blend reflects the composite, which means it dampens disagreement between slots rather than highlighting it. If two slots are bullish and one is bearish, the blend leans bullish — the dissent gets averaged down, not surfaced. That is why the individual slot lines exist alongside the blend. See For the Geeks for the full blending explanation and Limitations and Trust Boundaries for why the dampening matters more than it sounds.

What happens if I enable Master Smoothing on top of everything else?

More precisely: Master Smoothing does not change the individual slot plots. It adds another MA pass to the blended RSI and blended Signal after weighting, so the composite outputs get later while the per-slot plots stay where they were.

The quick summary is still simple: the composite gets smoother and later. The slot plots do not change, but the blended RSI and blended Signal pick up another MA pass after weighting. If your blend looks very calm with Master Smoothing on, compare it to the blend with Master Smoothing off — the difference shows you how much delay the extra pass is introducing. See Settings and the smoothing stacking section in For the Geeks.

Why do I get so many regime flip alerts in a choppy market?

In range-bound conditions, the RSI and Signal lines cross frequently because momentum has no clear direction. Each crossing is a regime flip, and each regime flip fires an alert. This is the indicator correctly reporting that momentum is choppy — the high alert volume is itself information. If you want fewer alerts, increase RSI Smoothing or Signal Length to reduce crossover frequency, or use the "All RSI Slots" alignment alerts, which only fire when every enabled slot agrees. See Alerts.

Can I use Optional Ticker to track multiple stocks at once?

Yes, but understand what the blend produces. Setting each slot to a different ticker gives you individual momentum readings per instrument on a common scale, and a blended composite of those readings. The blend is mathematically valid but does not measure correlation or imply that the instruments are moving for the same reason. It is a rough gauge of composite momentum across the selected symbols. See Multi-Ticker Mixing for use cases and caveats.

Why is one slot flat while the others are moving?

The flat slot is likely set to a much higher timeframe than the chart, with On Bar Close on. It only updates when the higher-timeframe bar closes. On a 1-minute chart with a 60-minute slot, the slot updates once per hour. Between updates, it holds the last confirmed value. This is the expected behavior of the non-repainting mode. See MTF and Repainting and Troubleshooting.