Signal Methodology, How We Generate Trading Signals

By the SignalsTrades Research Desk · Last reviewed September 2026

Every signal on SignalsTrades checks 13 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)
4Moving AverageSMA20, SMA50, SMA200 computed from daily closesPrice > SMA20 > SMA50 (golden cross uptrend)Price < SMA20 < SMA50 (death cross downtrend)
5Session 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
6Round 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)
7USD 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
8Historical S/RSwing highs and lows from 30 days of daily closes; "Touching support/resistance at X" when within 0.15%Price at or near historical support levelPrice at or near historical resistance level
9Win 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
10News SentimentRecent financial news headlines for this currency pair (last 24 hours)Majority of headlines positive for base currencyMajority of headlines negative for base currency
11Calendar 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
12Gold CorrelationXAU/USD price trend as a safe-haven indicatorGold rising and pair positively correlated with goldGold falling and pair positively correlated with gold
13Triangle 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 13 rules voted in the signal direction. A score of 58% means 7 of 13 rules agreed. A score of 83% means 10 of 13 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) use fixed, instrument-specific distances tuned to each market's typical volatility:

This produces a reward-to-risk ratio of about 1.6 to 1 on every signal. Over time, a strategy with a ratio above 1 to 1 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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