Chapter 2

Building the Engine

220 words · ~1 min

Getting live data from Binance is trivially simple. The hard part is deciding what to do with it.

My TA engine combines seven indicators into a single score from -10 to +10:

**RSI(14)**: Momentum. Below 35 = oversold (bullish signal). Above 65 = overbought (bearish). **MACD(12/26/9)**: Trend direction. Signal line crossovers indicate momentum shifts. **EMA Cross (9/21)**: Short vs medium-term trend. Bull cross = bullish. **Bollinger Bands(20)**: Price at lower band = buy signal. Upper band = caution. **OBV Divergence**: Volume confirming or contradicting price. Most underrated signal. **StochRSI(14)**: RSI of RSI — catches reversals earlier than plain RSI. **ATR Filter**: Skips trades when volatility is too low to be meaningful.

Each indicator votes +1 or -1. The composite score is the sum. A score of +4 means four indicators agree: bullish. A score of -6 means six indicators screaming: exit.

The breakthrough insight: **no single indicator is reliable. The edge comes from confluence.**

I ran 300+ paper trades on Saturday, February 21st, 2026. Assets in extreme fear (F&G=8) with RSI at 65-88 made meaningful signals rare. The market was overbought from a morning rally and refusing to give clean setups.

This is normal. Discipline means waiting for the score, not inventing a reason to trade.

*Lesson: Build the engine first. Trust the score. Trade only when all conditions align.*