Imagine this: you just finished yesterday’s “100 basic terms” and can finally read candlesticks. Then someone says, “RSI is oversold, be careful.” Another says, “MACD just had a golden cross, time to enter.” Someone else adds, “Bollinger Bands are opening up—volatility is coming.” You’re left thinking: what on earth does any of that mean?

Don’t worry! Here’s your crypto-market technical indicators encyclopedia—a one-stop, 100-indicator crash course to get you fluent fast. This article focuses on baseline concepts rather than deep dives into each tool; for detailed lessons, keep following our subsequent courses.

These indicators aren’t esoteric math—they’re traders’ “market thermometers.” You don’t need to master them all, but you should at least understand what you’re hearing.

Trend Indicators

Trend indicators answer one core question: is the market rising or falling?

1. MA (Moving Average): Smooths price swings to show trend direction.

2. EMA (Exponential Moving Average): Gives more weight to recent prices; more responsive.

3. SMA (Simple Moving Average): Average of the past N closing prices.

4. WMA (Weighted Moving Average): Assigns different weights to different days.

5. MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence): Uses fast/slow line crossovers to assess trend.

6. DMI (Directional Movement Index): Composed of +DI and –DI to gauge bull/bear strength.

7. ADX (Average Directional Index): Measures trend strength regardless of direction.

8. VMA (Volume Moving Average): A moving average incorporating volume for added robustness.

9. Hull MA: Smoother than EMA while staying responsive.

10. KAMA (Kaufman’s Adaptive Moving Average): Adjusts sensitivity based on market volatility.

Momentum Indicators

Momentum tools ask: how strong is this move, and is it running out of steam?

11. RSI (Relative Strength Index): 0–100 scale; >70 overbought, <30 oversold.

12. Stochastic Oscillator: Compares current price to its recent range.

13. CCI (Commodity Channel Index): Overbought/oversold detection; great for ranges.

14. ROC (Rate of Change): Speed of price change.

15. MFI (Money Flow Index): Combines price and volume to infer buy/sell pressure.

16. Elder’s Force Index (EFI): Price × volume; reads bull vs. bear force.

17. Elder-Ray Index (ERI): Bull Power / Bear Power to view trend plus push/pull strength.

18. TRIX (Triple Exponential Average): Filters noise to highlight longer trends.

19. Ultimate Oscillator: Blends three lookback windows to capture momentum.

20. Williams %R: Overbought/oversold, similar to Stochastics.

Volume Indicators

Volume is often called “the fuel of price.” No fuel, no trip.

21. OBV (On-Balance Volume): Cumulative volume aligned with price direction to read trend.

22. Accumulation/Distribution: Price–volume relationship to spot inflows/outflows.

23. Chaikin Oscillator: Strength of money moving in or out.

24. VWAP (Volume-Weighted Average Price): Institutional reference line for fair execution.

25. NVI (Negative Volume Index): Trend clues when volume declines.

26. PVI (Positive Volume Index): Trend clues when volume increases.

27. VPT (Volume Price Trend): Cumulative measure connecting volume and price changes.

28. Volume Oscillator: Difference between fast and slow volume MAs.

29. Ease of Movement (EOM): How “effortless” price advances are.

30. Klinger Oscillator: Long-term view of capital inflow/outflow.

Volatility Indicators

Volatility tools tell you whether the market is calm or wild.

31. Bollinger Bands: Price oscillates between upper/lower bands; band expansion = higher volatility.

32. ATR (Average True Range): Magnitude of volatility; higher = more violent moves.

33. Historical Volatility: Statistical measure of past volatility.

34. Implied Volatility: Options-implied expectation of future volatility.

35. Donchian Channel: Highest high/lowest low channel; breakouts hint at trend starts.

36. Keltner Channel: ATR-based channel around an average.

37. Chaikin Volatility: Uses MA changes to assess volatility shifts.

38. Standard Deviation: Dispersion of price around its average.

39. Range Indicator: Size of the intraday price range.

40. VIX (Fear Index): Market’s expected volatility (from traditional markets).

Market Breadth Indicators

Popular in equities but useful in crypto to assess broad participation.

41. Advance–Decline Line: Advancers minus decliners across assets.

42. TRIN (Arms Index): Combines advance/decline counts and their volumes.

43. McClellan Oscillator: Momentum based on breadth (advancers vs. decliners).

44. McClellan Summation Index: Longer-term breadth trend.

45. Breadth Thrust Indicator: Detects whether the market is heating up rapidly.

46. High–Low Index: Ratio of new highs to new lows.

47. % Above MA: Percentage of assets trading above a given MA.

48. Cumulative Volume Index (CVI): Cumulative up-volume vs. down-volume.

49. Zweig Breadth Thrust: Signals entry into a powerful phase.

50. A/D Ratio (Advance/Decline Ratio): Simple ratio of advancers to decliners.

Sentiment & Other Indicators

Crypto is emotion-driven. Think of these as sentiment thermometers.

51. Fear & Greed Index: Gauges aggregate market mood.

52. Put/Call Ratio: Options market sentiment.

53. Short Interest Ratio: Size of bearish positioning.

54. Funding Rate: Perpetual swaps’ long/short balance.

55. Open Interest (OI): Participation level in derivatives.

56. Netflow (Exchange Flows): On-chain big-money in/out of exchanges.

57. Stablecoin Supply Ratio (SSR): Stablecoin supply vs. market cap; potential buy power.

58. NUPL (Net Unrealized Profit/Loss): On-chain profitability gauge of market sentiment.

59. SOPR (Spent Output Profit Ratio): Whether spent coins were sold in profit or loss.

60. MVRV Ratio: Market cap vs. realized cap; valuation context.

Advanced & Less-Common Indicators

Not as mainstream, but popular in quant circles and with institutions.

61. Ehlers’ Fisher Transform: Transforms price to a near-normal distribution for sharper signals.

62. Gann Fan: Geometric angle analysis for trend structure.

63. Ichimoku Cloud: All-in-one trend, support, and resistance framework.

64. Pivot Points: Day trading staples for support/resistance.

65. Zig Zag: Filters small swings to reveal major trend structure.

66. Fractals: Local highs/lows for swing identification.

67. Heikin Ashi: Averaged candles to reduce noise and smooth trends.

68. Parabolic SAR: Trend-following dots indicating potential reversals/trailling exits.

69. DPO (Detrended Price Oscillator): Removes long-term trend to focus on short-term swings.

70. RVI (Relative Volatility Index): Volatility-direction gauge.

On-Chain–Specific (Crypto-Native) Indicators

Some exclusive alpha for crypto markets.

71. Hash Rate: Bitcoin network security and miner sentiment proxy.

72. Mining Difficulty: Reflects mining costs and competitive intensity.

73. Exchange Netflow: Exchange inflows/outflows indicating sell pressure.

74. Whale Ratio: Proportion of holdings controlled by large addresses.

75. Active Addresses: Number of active wallets.

76. Transaction Count: On-chain transaction activity.

77. Gas Fee: Transaction fee level on chains like Ethereum.

78. Stablecoin Netflow: Stablecoins moving in/out; potential dry powder.

79. Realized Cap: Value based on last on-chain movement prices.

80. Dormancy (Coin Days Destroyed): Coin-age dynamics, long-term holder behavior.

Quant-Favorite Derived Metrics

81. Sharpe Ratio: Return per unit of total risk.

82. Sortino Ratio: Return per unit of downside risk only.

83. Beta: Asset volatility relative to the market.

84. Alpha: Excess return over a benchmark.

85. Kelly Criterion: Position sizing for growth optimization.

86. VaR (Value at Risk): Potential maximum loss at a confidence level.

87. CVaR (Conditional VaR): Expected loss in the tail beyond VaR.

88. Max Drawdown: Peak-to-trough loss magnitude.

89. Calmar Ratio: Return vs. drawdown efficiency.

90. Win Rate: Percentage of profitable trades in a strategy.

Niche & Emerging Indicators

91. Elder Impulse System: Combines EMA slope and MACD histogram.

92. Gopalakrishnan Range Index: Measures range length characteristics.

93. Kaufman Efficiency Ratio: Trend efficiency vs. noise.

94. Connors RSI: Enhanced RSI variant for short-term trading.

95. TRINQ: Nasdaq-specific breadth gauge.

96. Money Flow Multiplier: Component for calculating money flow strength.

97. Price Oscillator: Difference between two moving averages.

98. Qstick Indicator: Quantifies average candlestick body length.

99. Market Facilitation Index (MFI2): Price–volume efficiency measure.

100. Cycle Indicators: Attempts to detect cyclical market rhythms.

Conclusion

These 100 indicators are like 100 kinds of market thermometers. Do you need to learn every single one? Absolutely not. The best traders often use 3–5 core indicators, with others as secondary context. For example: use MA/MACD for trend, RSI/ERI for momentum, and funding rates for sentiment.

Recommendations:

• Beginner → Master Trend + Momentum + Volume first. That’s enough.

• Intermediate → Layer in a few niche tools to fit your strategy.

• Institutional/Quant → Combine dozens within models as needed.