B3 Awesome Oscillator II

The Awesome Oscillator is a simple average of the HL2 mean done at length 5 and 34 and taking the difference of the two. The Elliot Wave Oscillator is similar to this as well. What I have done is make my own version AO-II for my tastes. I use DTI a bunch and when range contracts and trends aren't solid, a more responsive indicator is needed, and that is where AO-II comes in. Then in some chop or even in a slow rolling trend, they both suffer as you can see in the middle of the chart above. But in general, AO-II is the jitterier little cousin.

In this modification of a standard, I have added a (code-protected) derivative to the mix that will help bring the oscillator back to zero more often than its momentum measuring counterparts. The offset is set to 1 by default meaning it will not change in the current bar as it moves along. This also makes all the crosses appear late in history, but you will notice that the signal crossings are all still fairly lag free.

Much like in DTI, in AO-II you should note the slope and relation to zero. Divergences can be seen in AO-II, and depending on the action it can be wrong, so careful there. I think the idea behind most momentum indicators is to look for entry on overages in direction that might be looking to correct or reverse. Then once in the trade going the correct way with your indicator you stay the course till indicator tells you to exit.