How to actually use these indicators

Each indicator on its own is only half a picture. Here's the plain-language way to use them together — when to buy, when to get out, and which signals to trust. No jargon, just what the six years of history actually showed.

One rule above all: check the weather first

Why it matters more than anything else: over 2020–2026, a basket of coins held only while the light was green grew about 8× — versus about 1.4× for simply buying and holding — and it sat through far shallower crashes (worst drop about −67% instead of −90%). The light doesn't tell you what to buy. It tells you whether to be in the water at all.

The three tools, in plain words

How to read a row → Market Regime: it's the market's traffic light — a green reading means you may press, a red reading means protect and stop taking longs. Check it before anything else.

Why one tool alone isn't enough

A breakout by itself is close to a coin-flip. Across six years, a coin flagged breaking out went up only about 49% of the time. But split it by the traffic light and it's night and day:

Same signal, opposite outcome. The difference is the weather. This is why the rule comes first.

The funding myth. "Funding is sky-high, so short the top" sounds smart and is backwards. Historically, when longs were most crowded, price kept going up, not down. Crowding tells you a trade is late, not that it's about to reverse. Use it to size down, never as a reason to bet against the trend.

The entry checklist (going long)

1. The light is green (Market Regime is risk-on). If it's red, do nothing — this is a hard stop, not a suggestion.
2. Breakout Radar flags the coin — it's pushing to new highs on real volume.
3. The trade isn't already crowded — funding on that coin isn't at an extreme. You want to be early, not the last one in.
4. Bonus confidence: whales are adding, or money is flowing into that coin's chain. Nice to have, not required.

All four lined up → full position size. Missing #3 or #4 → take a smaller size. Never skip #1 or #2.

Getting out, and stops

• The weather turns red. Market Regime crosses back below zero → money is leaving. This is your master exit — trim or close longs across the board.
• Always a stop on each trade. Most breakouts don't work; you make your money on the few that run big. A stop is what lets those winners pay for the string of small losers.
• The trade gets crowded while you're up. Funding spikes to an extreme on a position that's in profit → take some off. The crowd has caught up and a squeeze gets more likely.
• Nothing happens in about a month. These signals are measured over roughly 30 days. If there's no follow-through by then, the idea didn't play out — move on.

What to trust, what to ignore

We tested dozens of signals on the full cycle and published the failures too (that's the lab). Here's the short version:

The rule for combining them: more agreeing signals = a bigger position, never a reason to skip the checklist. One extra green light lets you size up. It does not let you buy in a red market.

Honest limits (read this)

Want the raw numbers behind every claim here? They're on each indicator's page and in the lab.

All indicators The lab