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How to Combine Two Indicators Without Repeating Yourself

Two indicators combine without repeating each other only when they answer different questions: RSI with the stochastic turned on the same days of gold's spring 2025 and moved together on 43 of 63 days, while RSI with ATR moved together on 35, which is what two unrelated lines do. This paper shows you both pairs drawn from real bars, the idea as a compass and a tape measure, a trend line and a volatility line on the same daily chart, the check on four common pairs, and the Indicators List on your platform.

Difficulty
Advanced
Reading time
5 min
Pages
8
Reviewed by
Saman Rahbar

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A pair that repeats, and a pair that does not

Two indicators combine only if they answer different questions. Here are two pairs on the same days, gold from March to May 2025. In the top box RSI sits with the stochastic: both are momentum, both bottomed on 8 April and topped on 21 April, and on 43 of the 63 days they moved the same way. That is one indicator drawn twice. In the bottom box the same RSI sits with ATR, the average size of a day: ATR bottomed on 1 April and topped on 28 April, and it moved the same way as RSI on 35 of the 63 days, which is what two unrelated lines do.

A compass and a tape measure

Picture a compass and a tape measure. The compass says which way; a trend indicator, a moving average, is a compass. The tape says how far; a volatility indicator, ATR or Bollinger Bands, is a tape. Two compasses tell you the direction twice, however differently they are made. A compass and a tape tell you two things. The second instrument is chosen for the question the first one cannot answer, and that is the whole of not repeating yourself.

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