Exponential momentum score
How hard a move is building (0 to 1) from acceleration, momentum, volume and volatility, with no direction.
Each minute the indicator adds points from four checks. It gives up to 4 for a sharp rise in the bar-to-bar change of log returns (acceleration), up to 3 when the sums of the last 5 and last 10 minutes of log returns are both positive, up to 3 when volume runs well above its recent average, and 2 when ATR(14) grows more than 10% in one bar. The total is capped at 10 and divided by 10, so the output runs from 0 to 1 in tenths. Despite the name it fits no exponential curve, and it measures build-up strength rather than direction.
How to read it
- The line sits in its own pane below the price, from 0 to 1, in steps of 0.1.
- Around 0.3 is an ordinary minute. Above 0.7 is the top 5% of minutes in the SPY sample, when several parts line up.
- It shows how hard a move is building, not its direction, so read the candles for direction.
What it outputs
- Build-up score
- Strength of the build-up from 0 to 1, in tenths. It does not say whether the move is up or down.
Pitfalls
- No direction sign: a fall that is slowing, with a volume spike, can score nearly as high as a rally.
- The volume test counts the current bar in its own average, so the top volume points need about 3x the previous bars' average.
- The 3-point momentum tier fires on a recovery: the last 5 minutes net up, the 5 before them net down, the 10-minute total still up. A steady uptrend earns only 1 point.