Awesome Oscillator

AO · module 20 of 33 · momentum

The difference between a 5- and 34-period simple moving average of candle midpoints.

Awesome Oscillator on a chart

EUR/USD · 1h · demo data

Difference between a 5- and 34-period average of the midpoint. Bars flipping across zero mark momentum shifts.

How to apply it

1. Add it. Start with 5/34 on 15m (Intraday).
2. Read the market first. Above zero and rising confirms upward momentum; shrinking bars warn of deceleration.
3. Adjust for ranges. Crosses zero repeatedly and provides no usable edge.
4. Manage the trade. Place the stop at 1.5 × ATR and the target at 3.5 × ATR, and only act when the chart above shows the trigger.

AO = SMA(HL2, 5) − SMA(HL2, 34), where HL2 = (High + Low) ÷ 2.

Above zero and rising confirms upward momentum; shrinking bars warn of deceleration.

Crosses zero repeatedly and provides no usable edge.

Style	Suggested values
Intraday	5/34 on 15m
Swing	5/34 on 4h

These are conventional starting points, not optimised values. Test any change on your own pair and timeframe before relying on it.

SMA(HL2,5) = 1.0895, SMA(HL2,34) = 1.0875: AO = +0.0020. Short-term midpoints are above longer-term ones, so momentum is up.

In a 25-pip EUR/CHF range, AO crossed zero 12 times in a day. Used as an entry trigger it produced 12 trades and a net loss driven entirely by costs.

Stacking these produces agreement by construction, which is not confirmation.

Overlay AO and MACD histogram on 4h EUR/USD and count how often their zero crosses occur within two candles of each other.

1. AO is built from:

Both its averages use HL2 rather than the close.

2. AO is most redundant with:

Both measure the gap between a fast and a slow moving average.