I Tested 5,000+ Indicators So You Don't Have To
By Lin — 10-year gold trader, zero indicators.
Let me tell you a story. It starts with obsession and ends with emptiness — the good kind.
The Collector Phase
When I started trading in 2015, I thought the answer was out there. Somewhere. Hidden in an indicator that nobody had found yet.
So I collected them. Hundreds. Then thousands. I scoured forex forums, trading blogs, YouTube channels. Every time someone said "this indicator changed my life," I downloaded it. Every time a forum post promised a "99% accurate signal," I bookmarked it.
I gathered over 5,000 indicators from across the web. Moving averages, oscillators, volatility bands, momentum detectors, adaptive algorithms, custom scripts. I had them all.
And I still couldn't trade consistently. Go figure.
The Engineer Phase
So I did what any self-respecting trader would do. I learned to code.
I wrote Python scripts to backtest every idea I had. I coded my own indicators, convinced that I could build something better. I optimized parameters, combined signals, layered confirmation upon confirmation. Actually no, let me rephrase — I over-engineered everything to death.
My charts looked like a spaceship control panel. Lines crossed lines. Histograms painted green and red. Arrows pointed up and down. Every pixel on that chart was doing something. And honestly? It was a mess.
And I still couldn't trade consistently.
The NFP Moment
Then came Non-Farm Payrolls day, 2015. I was trading XAUUSD gold with a $3,000 account. The number came out. The market exploded. Twenty minutes later, I had $1,200.
Gone. Fifty-eight hundred dollars. Twenty minutes. All those indicators, all that code, all that supposed "edge" — and I got wrecked by a single news event.
That was the moment everything changed.
Not because I found a better indicator. Because I realized that indicators were never the answer. They were just noise I was paying too much attention to.
The Deletion
I sat there staring at my blank screen. Indicator one. Delete. Indicator two. Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete. It took me an hour to delete every single one. Five thousand indicators, gone.
And then something strange happened.
For the first time, I could see the market.
Not through a filter of oscillators and moving averages. Not through someone else's interpretation of what price meant. Just pure, naked price action. Candles on a chart. Structure. Levels. Reactions. It was like taking off a blindfold.
The answer was never in an oscillator — it was always right there on the chart, honest and waiting.
What I Found
In the years since, I've built a trading system that uses exactly zero indicators. It's called 因果有序 — Cause and Effect Order. Every move in the market has a cause. Read the cause, trade the effect.
I don't predict direction. I read the structure — the accumulation, the distribution, the reactions at key levels. When I see the cause, I know the probable effect. No indicators needed. Just structure, time, and patience. Sounds simple? It is. But simple isn't easy.
Jesse Livermore said it best: "There is a time for all things, but not every time is the right time." I wait for the cause to complete, then I act. Nothing more, nothing less.
The Industry Lie
The whole trading industry sells indicators. It's a billion-dollar business built on telling traders they need more — more tools, more signals, more screens, more complexity. You know the drill.
I went the opposite direction. I spotted the consensus early and chose to be the contrarian. The real edge is not in having more indicators. It's in having the courage to trade without any.
Think of it like poker. A poker player doesn't win by having the fanciest chips or the most expensive seat. They win by having a positive expectancy system and the discipline to run enough hands. Trading is the same. I care about the process — not whether any single trade wins or loses.
A losing trade executed perfectly is better than a winning trade that broke my rules. I don't trade to be right. I trade to be profitable over one hundred trades. Big difference.
Where I Am Now
Today I trade gold — mostly EU and US sessions. I use a daily chart for my primary analysis and a 4-hour chart for entry. I have one Fibonacci line. That's it. One line.
No indicators. No groups. No noise. Just structure, a system called 因果有序, and a discipline forged by failure.
I'm not special. I'm just someone who tried 5,000 different answers and learned that the real answer was none of them.
So if you're sitting there with twenty indicators on your chart, wondering why you're not profitable yet — consider the possibility that the answer is not another indicator.
The answer might be zero.
— Lin
10 years of screen time, one honest record. Follow my journey at xaulx.com/about.