I have reached the end of the World and see the place I started in ThinkOrSwim

[IPA]

I have reached MY answer to an important question, and I am not alone in asking it — many experienced traders here on this site eventually reach this exact realization,

Most indicators are derived from the same data (price and volume), and many are just variations of each other — meaning they tend to behave similarly, especially during the same market regimes.

I have written or adjusted over 200 scripts in the 2 years I have started using TOS. I have in theory made a “sandwich” about as many ways there is to make a “sandwich” and I have come to realize, even though one may taste better to me than others, that they are all the same “sandwich”.

Why Many Indicators "Act the Same"

1. They’re all based on price and/or volume.

Whether it's RSI, MACD, Stochastic, or CCI, they're just manipulating highs, lows, closes, averages, and ranges.
Most of them are just different smoothing techniques applied to price behavior.

1. Indicators lag — and they often confirm the same thing.

Many indicators are reactive, not predictive. They confirm momentum, trend, or volatility after price moves. (Like reading the Wall Street Journal and thinking you are now ready for tomorrow trading, lol, NOT)

1. Multiple indicators ≠ more signal.

Using 5 indicators that say “overbought” doesn’t give you 5x the certainty — just the same information 5 times.

So Should You Use Just 1–2 Indicators?
In many cases, yes — but with intentional diversity. Ideally, you want one indicator per category:

Category	Use One Tool	Examples
Trend	Directional bias	Moving Average, ADX
Momentum	Strength of price movement	RSI, MACD, Stochastic
Volatility	Expansion/contraction	ATR, Bollinger Bands
Volume-based	Confirmation of price moves	OBV, VWAP, Accum/Distrib
Price action	Structure/patterns	Candlesticks, pivots, HH/LLs

The Ideal Setup for Clarity
You don’t need 10 indicators — but you do need balance and context. Here’s an example minimalist but high-signal setup:

1. Price Action + EMAs – tells you trend and structure.
2. RSI or Stochastic – shows momentum + potential reversal points.
3. Volume or VWAP – confirms participation.

That’s it. Everything else can clutter, not clarify.

My Final Thought
Instead of stacking indicators, stack edges from different dimensions- price structure, momentum, volatility, and volume. (Maybe throw in MTF for another level of validations)

I have developed a Studies Set, but it includes some VIP scripts that I can not share here. This set has done very well this week and will need others to use it to validate its success rate and profit ratio. My suggestion is you join the VIP section, cheap for what you get. I will be writing up directions for use soon. (the only thing extra I might add are the previous day high and lows, they seem 50% of the time to act as support and resistances)

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mod note:

for those reading. take the discussion, thought and want of these indicators out of your mind. read the post for what it is. one of the best posts i have seen on here.

 

[Zlotko]

Do you have chart link for VIP?

 

[Zlotko]

What's this indicator?

 

[antwerks]

What's this indicator?

That is an older fibonacci indicator script converted from Tradingview by good ol' sam4cok@samer800 back in 2023. I run it showing only the Fracthigh and Fractlo chevrons - the rest is real estate consuming. It does seem to "repaint" to some degree. The script waits for a fixed number of candles (Right) to the right of a bar to determine whether it's a valid fractal high/low. This is a delayed confirmation, which avoids actual repainting because once enough bars pass, the condition is "locked in." The plotted values like support/resistance, fib levels, TP, etc., are based on confirmed past points. You can change that look forward number if you want.

• For scalping/day trading: Use Right = 2–3.
• For swing trading: Use Right = 5–7.
• For trend-based or structure trading (e.g., Fib setups): Use Right = 6–10 for stability.

https://tos.mx/!GkkCyjZW