MACD measures the spread between a fast and a slow exponential moving average, then plots that spread, a smoothed signal line, and the histogram of their difference. Vant8's MACD strategy looks at the histogram's shape — specifically, repeated bars of expansion in one direction — before entering a position.
When the fast EMA is far above the slow EMA, momentum is up and accelerating. When they cross, momentum has changed direction. The histogram makes that change visible bar by bar.
EMA(12) minus EMA(26). Positive when fast is above slow (uptrend); negative when fast is below slow (downtrend).
EMA(9) of the MACD line. A smoother view used as the trigger that turns a MACD-line move into a signal.
MACD line minus signal line. Positive bars mean bullish acceleration; negative bars mean bearish acceleration. Expansion of bars in one direction is the cleanest momentum read.
The textbook short EMA. Captures recent momentum without overreacting to single bars.
The textbook long EMA. Smooths out noise and defines the base trend.
Smooths the MACD line itself so the histogram is meaningful.
The simplest MACD trigger — a histogram crossing zero — produces a lot of whipsaws. Vant8's strategy waits for repeated bars of expansion in the same direction before treating a move as a signal, and tracks crossover history per symbol so a single bar of noise does not flip the position.
A bullish entry requires the histogram to expand positively across a configurable number of closes — not just cross zero once. Bearish entries mirror the rule.
The strategy keeps a small history of crossovers per symbol so it can recognise when a fresh signal really is a regime change rather than a re-cross of the same zone.
MACD is built on EMAs of past prices. It tells you a change has happened, not that one is about to. Confirmation bars reduce whipsaws but cannot make the indicator leading.
In a sideways market the histogram oscillates around zero and signals fire constantly. Pair MACD with an ADX filter — and Vant8 does — to refuse signals when there is no underlying trend.
Every indicator Vant8 wires into a live signal has its own page. The ones not listed here are calculated in code but not used to generate a trade decision.
Momentum oscillator on a 0–100 scale. Flags overbought and oversold conditions.
Simple and exponential averages, plus the crossover signal between a fast and slow MA.
Volatility measured in price units, gap-inclusive. Sizes stops and grid steps.
How strong a trend is, irrespective of direction. Decides whether to follow or fade.
A moving average with standard-deviation bands. Mean Reversion uses band touches.
N-bar high and N-bar low. Used by Perp Trend Following for breakout entries and exits.
%K and %D lines pinned to a 0–100 scale from the recent high–low range. Available as a Custom Strategy Builder rule.
The strategies listed above are deployed from the Strategies page on your dashboard. Each one ships with sensible defaults you can tune before deployment.