The Moxie Indicator: Overview

Learn about the Moxie Indicator – a technical trading indicator developed by TG Watkins that serves as his primary trading tool and has revolutionized his trading.

About – Moxie Indicator

The Moxie Indicator represents the internal strength of a particular market. On the charts below you can see a grey or white zero line – the area above the line indicates positive energy and below – negative energy ( visually: ‘how much gas is in the tank’). TG has a simple step-by-step entry method that includes information from his Moxie Indicator, key moving averages, and price. The Moxie Indicator is available for Thinkorswim, Trading View, and Stockcharts, and can be purchased here.
Below you’ll find a summary of what the Moxie Indicator does:

• Moxie Indicator is used to help time a trade’s entry and exit and does a great job at providing information when not to take a trade, therefore reduces the probability of entering a failed trade on a false move
• Indicates when a move that looks strong is actually built on weakness and should be traded with more auction
• Excels in trending markets and can tell you when to stay out of choppy markets
• It is a great tool when looking for divergences – these divergences show us the positive or negative energy that is inside the price and cannot be seen as clearly without the Moxie

Moxie Indicator on Thinkorswim – TOS

Moxie Indicator on Trading View

The TG’s trading principles, can be applied to any time frame, however, Moxie looks at specific time frames as taught by TG in his strategy sessions. TG looks at multiple time frames at once and blends them to get a greater insight and better understanding of market moves. Moxie Indicator’s color coding and unique stair-stepping give the trader better visual cues to identify the strength and power of a move.

Moxie Trader Glossary & Checklist

The Moxie Trader glossary is a list of terms relating specifically to the Moxie Indicator, and provides some helpful rules and a checklist:

• 2-part ENTRY rule – Moxie over or crossing over zero and price over 50 SMA
• 2-part EXIT rule – Moxie under or crossing under zero and price under 50 SMA
• Out of phase / Tail wagging the dog – Price leading the indicator instead of the indicator leading price
• Elf Shoe – Leg, Heel, Arch, Ball, Elf toe  (double bottom)
• Moat – the distance between 8/21 EMA, or 50/200 SMA
• Moxie Indicator price trigger – Green arrows on the price chart when the Moxie Indicator crosses up through zero, red arrows on a chart when the Moxie crosses down through zero
• Positive / Negative divergence – Moxie indicator angle vs price angle
• Trampoline move – Price below the 50 SMA but Moxie Indicator over zero
• Trampoline move with backstop – Price below the 50 SMA but above or bouncing off 200 SMA and Moxie Indicator over zero
• Inverse trampoline move – Price over the 50 SMA but Moxie Indicator below zero
• 15 min Moxies  – If they are spread from each other the direction is weak. If they are close together and look like one line, they agree with each other and have a strong direction

When looking for a long entry

• Look for a positive divergence
• Look for elf shoe
  • Double bottom
  • Wide moat vs narrow moat
• 2-part entry rule (typically reversal entries)
  • Moxie over or crossing over zero
  • Price crossing 50 SMA
• Trampoline move (typically continuation entries)
  • Moxie over zero
  • Price crossing 50 SMA
• Even stronger when the price is backstopped by 200 SMA

Exiting a long

• Look for a negative divergence
• 2-part exit rule 
  • Moxie below or crossing below zero
  • Price crossing 50 SMA

Also prudent to take some risk off if the price moves up so quickly that it outruns MA support. Remember, off the 8 back to the 8.

When looking for a short entry

• Look for a negative divergence
• Look for upside-down elf shoe
  • Double top
  • Wide moat vs narrow moat

Shorts are tricky and sometimes a fake-out. If you are going to short, getting confirmation is best. Confirmation would typically be price getting rejected by the underside of the 50 SMA or an inverse trampoline move.

• 2-part entry rule 
  • Moxie below or crossing below zero
  • Price crossing 50 SMA
• Inverse Trampoline move 
  • Moxie below zero
  • Price over 50 SMA

Moxie Indicator – Settings on TOS

15-minute setting

If you are using Moxie on a 15-minute chart, switch the input in the Moxie settings to High or Low as appropriate to the chart.:

• The High is slower but stronger and pairs well with the Hourly and Daily charts
• The Low is more nimble and pairs well with the 5- and 2-minute charts for shorter-term trades.

Line weight

To change the line weight/size of the Moxie Indicator Price Signals:

• Open the Edit Studies and Strategies window. 
• Click on the gear wheel/cog to the right of the name of the indicator. 
• Choose the crossing above or crossing below arrow tabs. 
• Left click on Width. 
• In the below screenshot, the green crossing above arrows has been changed to a width of 5 (largest). The default is 1 (smallest). 

 
Changing color

If you want to change the color of the arrows, just click on the Change Plot Color swatch in the indicator’s settings window. 

To change the color of the lower Moxie Indicator study, follow the same instructions as above to open the Edit Studies and Strategies window. 

• Click on the arrow next to Globals to reveal the Globals settings. 
• Left click on the color swatch and choose a color. 

 
The Moxie Indicator color will change to the color you choose from the color swatch in the Globals setting. 

Platform availability: 

Thinkorswim, Trading View, and Stockcharts.

Purchase the indicator HERE.

If you are interested in TG’s trading strategies, check out his Moxie Indicator™ Mastery where you can trade with TG on a monthly basis, get real-time alerts, and a weekly video with thoughts on the market. Sign up today and never trade alone again.