Volume-Confirmed Trend Entry (OBV + CMF)¶

What it does: Buys a move above the 50-candle average when volume shows buyers stepping in. This buys when the price crosses above the 4-hour 50-candle average while On-Balance Volume (a running total of volume on up versus down candles) is rising and Chaikin Money Flow (CMF, buying versus selling pressure) is positive.

Style: Volume · Difficulty: Beginner · Risk: medium · Ready: 3 of 4 variants

When people use it: It tends to work early in new trends.

Where it struggles: It struggles when volume is fake (wash trading) or when one exchange's volume doesn't reflect the whole market.

Markets it was written for: BTC, ETH, majors (exchange volume only). Timeframes: 4h.

Open it in the Strategy Library (on the Strategies page), pick a variant, adjust the settings and press Add to my strategies. It becomes your own strategy: edit, backtest or trade it like any other.

Long¶

Buys a move above the 50-candle average when volume shows buyers stepping in.

Labels: Trend Following, Long, Spot, Beginner, Medium

Direction: Buy (long) · Market: spot
Trigger: On candle close · Main timeframe: Auto (4h)

Entry

IF Price crosses above EMA(50) (4h) and OBV rising over 5 bars (4h) and CMF(20) > 0 (4h)

Exit: Indicator-Based Exit

IF Price crosses below EMA(50) (4h)
Loss controls: Stop-loss % 6%

Settings

Setting	Default	Editable	What changing it does
OBV rising lookback	5	Yes	OBV must be higher than this many candles ago. Shorter reacts to brief volume bursts (more trades); longer needs a steadier volume trend (fewer trades).
CMF length	20	Yes	How many candles CMF measures. Shorter reacts faster but is noisier; longer is steadier.

How it works (as shown in the app)

This buys when the price crosses above the 4-hour 50-candle average while On-Balance Volume (a running total of volume on up versus down candles) is rising and Chaikin Money Flow (CMF, buying versus selling pressure) is positive.
It sells when the price closes back below the average, or at the stop-loss.
It tends to work early in new trends.
It struggles when volume is fake (wash trading) or when one exchange's volume doesn't reflect the whole market.
Uses your exchange's volume only.

Short (perp)¶

Shorts a drop below the 50-candle average when volume shows sellers stepping in.

Labels: Trend Following, Short, Futures, Medium, Backtest Only

Direction: Sell (short) · Market: swap
Trigger: On candle close · Main timeframe: Auto (4h)

Entry

IF Price crosses below EMA(50) (4h) and OBV falling over 5 bars (4h) and CMF(20) < 0 (4h)

Exit: Indicator-Based Exit

IF Price crosses above EMA(50) (4h)
Loss controls: Stop-loss % 6%

Settings

Setting	Default	Editable	What changing it does
OBV rising lookback	5	Yes	OBV must be higher than this many candles ago. Shorter reacts to brief volume bursts (more trades); longer needs a steadier volume trend (fewer trades).
CMF length	20	Yes	How many candles CMF measures. Shorter reacts faster but is noisier; longer is steadier.

How it works (as shown in the app)

This shorts when the price crosses below the 4-hour 50-candle average while On-Balance Volume (a running total of volume on up versus down candles) is falling and Chaikin Money Flow (CMF, buying versus selling pressure) is negative.
It buys back when the price closes back above the average, or at the stop-loss.
It tends to work early in new downtrends.
It struggles when volume is fake (wash trading) or when one exchange's volume doesn't reflect the whole market.
Uses your exchange's volume only.
Shorting means you profit if the price falls and lose if it rises.
Suggested leverage is at most 3x. On isolated margin, at 3x the exchange closes the position (liquidation) if the price moves about 33% against you, and you lose the margin you put into it. Keep your stop well inside that.
For now this version runs in backtests only; paper and live futures trading are coming later.

MFI dip variant¶

Buys when money flow recovers from oversold while the daily trend is up.

Labels: Pullback, Long, Spot, Beginner, Medium

Direction: Buy (long) · Market: spot
Trigger: On candle close · Main timeframe: Auto (4h)

Entry

IF MFI(14) crosses above 20 (4h) and Price > EMA(50) (1d)

Exit: Indicator-Based Exit

IF MFI(14) crosses below 80 (4h)
Loss controls: Stop-loss % 6%

How it works (as shown in the app)

This buys when the price crosses above the 4-hour 50-candle average while On-Balance Volume (a running total of volume on up versus down candles) is rising and Chaikin Money Flow (CMF, buying versus selling pressure) is positive.
It sells when the price closes back below the average, or at the stop-loss.
It tends to work early in new trends.
It struggles when volume is fake (wash trading) or when one exchange's volume doesn't reflect the whole market.
Uses your exchange's volume only.
This version buys when MFI (a volume-weighted RSI) climbs back above 20 while the price is above the daily 50-day average, and sells when MFI falls back below 80.

OBV above its SMA¶

Buys when On-Balance Volume is above its own average and price is above the 50-candle average.

Labels: Trend Following, Long, Spot, Beginner, Medium

Coming later

This needs an indicator calculated on another indicator (like an average of OBV), a feature that's coming. You can read how it will work, but you can't add it to your strategies yet.

Planned rules (draft, may change before it ships):

Direction: Buy (long) · Market: spot
Trigger: On candle close · Main timeframe: Auto (4h)

Entry

IF OBV > SMA(20) (4h) and Price > EMA(50) (4h)

Exit: Indicator-Based Exit

IF Price crosses below EMA(50) (4h)
Loss controls: Stop-loss % 6%

How it works (as shown in the app)

This buys when the price crosses above the 4-hour 50-candle average while On-Balance Volume (a running total of volume on up versus down candles) is rising and Chaikin Money Flow (CMF, buying versus selling pressure) is positive.
It sells when the price closes back below the average, or at the stop-loss.
It tends to work early in new trends.
It struggles when volume is fake (wash trading) or when one exchange's volume doesn't reflect the whole market.
Uses your exchange's volume only.
This version buys when OBV is above its own 20-candle average and the price is above the 50-candle average.
Coming later: this version needs averages of other indicators (for example an average of OBV), which Apathia doesn't have yet, so it can't be imported or run today.

Warnings¶

"Backtest only for now: paper and live trading of shorts are coming later.": shown on short variants. They need perpetual or futures pairs.
Some variants suggest leverage. On isolated margin a liquidation loses the margin in that position; keep any stop well inside the liquidation distance (the Trade Builder warns you when it isn't).
Once added, the strategy's conditions get the usual condition checks. Messages show under each condition on the entry / exit conditions screen; setting errors start with the indicator's short name (for example "MACD: Fast must be between 1 and 1000") and block saving, while the other warnings never block saving and repeat in the strategy's Entry or Exit section. See the indicator pages below for each one.
"You already have this strategy with these settings (…). Change a setting to add another copy.": shown on the variant's page in the Strategy Library when you already added this variant with the same settings.

Good to know¶

After you add it, the strategy keeps the library's trigger and an Auto main timeframe; you can change both in the builder. Nothing links it back to the library, except that the builder still shows the library's explanations in the info bubbles.
Changing a setting before adding it also changes the saved name, so you can tell copies apart.
Past results don't predict future ones. Try it in a backtest and on paper before using real money.
Indicators used: CMF, EMA, MFI, OBV, SMA.