TSI
Smoothed momentum from -1 to +1, with a signal line that trails it.
TSI takes each bar-to-bar change in close and smooths it twice, first over the long window and then over the short one. It divides that by the same double smoothing of the size of each change, so the output is a ratio between -1 and +1, not a price. The signal line is an EMA of that ratio over the signal window.
How to read it
- The lines sit in their own pane below the price, always between -1 and +1.
- Above zero, recent moves were mostly up; below zero, mostly down.
- The main line crossing above the signal line marks momentum turning up; crossing below marks it turning down.
- At default settings about one bar in ten sits beyond ±0.35, so readings past it are the stretched ones.
What it outputs
- TSI
- Double-smoothed price momentum as a ratio from -1 to +1. Above zero means net up-moves, below zero net down-moves.
- Signal
- An EMA of the TSI line, from -1 to +1. It lags the main line by design, so its crosses come after the turn.
Settings
- long_window
- The first smoothing of the bar-to-bar change. Raising it slows the main line and flattens its swings; lowering it makes the line react to each bar.
- short_window
- The second smoothing, applied on top of the first. Raising it makes the line smoother and later; lowering it lets it chase short bursts of movement.
- signal_window
- The smoothing of the signal line only. Raising it delays and thins the crosses; lowering it keeps the signal close to the main line, which gives more frequent crosses.
Pitfalls
- The scale is -1 to +1, not the usual -100 to +100 of TSI, so classic ±25 levels appear here as ±0.25.
- Readings near ±1 need one-sided moves across the whole window; a trend can hold the line there, so an extreme alone is not a reversal.
- The line stays blank until the close first changes, so the sample's data starts with about two blank bars out of 20,160.