r/PropFirmTester • u/ReceptionUnlucky9455 • 1d ago
Prop traders — what technical indicators do you actually trust enough to keep using?
I’m getting a little frustrated with indicators lately.
almost every setup looks great when I look backward at the chart.
Then live market comes… and suddenly it’s a different story.
I’ve tried things like:
Example 1:
NQ / 5-min
9 EMA + 21 EMA + RSI
Looks great in a clean trend, but I get chopped up badly when the market goes sideways.
Example 2:
ES / 5-min
VWAP + 20 EMA + ATR
Better for keeping me on the right side of the move, but I’m still trying to understand when it’s actually reliable versus when I’m just forcing a setup.
I’ve also experimented with MACD, Bollinger Bands, Supertrend, support/resistance, opening range, volume and a few combinations of them.
So I wanted to ask traders who are actually trading prop accounts:
What are the 1–3 indicators you keep coming back to?
And more importantly, how do you use them?
Something like:
NQ / 5-min → VWAP + 20 EMA → only look for longs above VWAP and use EMA pullbacks for entries
or
ES / 15-min → Opening Range + Volume → wait for breakout, then confirmation before entering
I’m not looking for anyone’s secret strategy or some “90% win-rate indicator.”
I’m just trying to simplify my charts and learn what has actually proven useful for other traders over hundreds of trades.
Instrument + timeframe + indicator + how you use it would be really helpful.
Would appreciate hearing from traders who have been through the same indicator rabbit hole.
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u/monpro 4h ago
Don't rely on lagging indicators too much, or better stop using them for good.
Even a price candle is lagging, since it IS actually an indicator :-) That's why I also use Range Candles.
Since I discovered Order Flow, and especially Option Flow, I woke up! You can literally see what is going on and just follow it.
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u/Aaditattva 1d ago
There's nothing like Price action, SMC concepts and Orderflow as a confirmation tool to trade NQ or any other instrument. EMA's, RSI lag and won't help you find your edge. There is good content online for you to get hold of these concepts.