The best indicator for Crude Oil WTI (CL)
We backtested 382 indicators across daily, weekly and hourly charts on real Crude Oil WTI (CL) history. Here's what actually worked — risk-adjusted over the full backtest, with costs, and checked out-of-sample.
Where Crude Oil WTI (CL) stands
Computed from our own daily OHLCV history, not quoted from a third party. Moving averages use closing prices; "52-week" is the last 252 trading sessions.
Hammer
On the weekly chart, this is the strongest risk-adjusted edge we found for Crude Oil WTI (CL) over ~26.2 years — beating buy-and-hold by 7.2% CAGR.
Crude Oil WTI (CL) on the weekly chart
The timeframe our backtest found best for this asset. The chart is live market data; the results above are hypothetical and historical.
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Best multi-indicator combo
Going long only when all 2 agree was the strongest confluence setup we found for Crude Oil WTI (CL) — beating buy-and-hold by 4.8% CAGR, out-of-sample. Fewer, higher-conviction trades than any single indicator.
The winner on each chart
Every indicator, ranked
Ranked by Sharpe (risk-adjusted return). Hypothetical, fees included.
| # | Indicator | TF | CAGR | Sharpe | Max DD | Win | Trades | vs B&H |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hammer ✓ | Weekly | 11.4% | 0.74 | -40.0% | 65.6% | 32 | 7.2% |
| 2 | Stochastic RSI ✓ | Weekly | 9.3% | 0.57 | -39.0% | 73.2% | 41 | 5.1% |
| 3 | Ehlers Relative Vigor ✓ | Weekly | 12.4% | 0.57 | -46.8% | 46.7% | 105 | 8.2% |
| 4 | Relative Vigor Index ✓ | Weekly | 10.7% | 0.51 | -46.3% | 49.5% | 97 | 6.5% |
| 5 | FRAMA 10/30 Cross ✓ | Weekly | 9.5% | 0.48 | -40.4% | 54.2% | 83 | 5.3% |
| 6 | Advance Trend Pressure ✓ | Weekly | 9.8% | 0.47 | -54.3% | 50.0% | 58 | 5.6% |
| 7 | Zero-Lag LSMA ✓ | Weekly | 9.3% | 0.46 | -64.7% | 52.3% | 86 | 5.1% |
| 8 | Delta Volume Rising (CVD proxy) ✓ | Weekly | 9.4% | 0.46 | -68.2% | 47.5% | 120 | 5.2% |
| 9 | Money Flow Index ✓ | 4-Hour | 5.4% | 0.45 | -30.2% | 59.4% | 32 | 3.5% |
| 10 | Morning Star ✓ | 4-Hour | 4.6% | 0.45 | -22.8% | 51.1% | 133 | 2.7% |
| 11 | CCI (14) ✓ | 4-Hour | 6.7% | 0.45 | -34.6% | 35.6% | 188 | 4.8% |
| 12 | Piercing Line ✓ | 4-Hour | 3.1% | 0.44 | -13.1% | 44.4% | 45 | 1.2% |
| 13 | Donchian Midline ✓ | Weekly | 8.0% | 0.42 | -44.2% | 39.4% | 71 | 3.8% |
| 14 | Williams %R (21) ✓ | Weekly | 7.9% | 0.42 | -46.3% | 37.1% | 70 | 3.8% |
✓ = held up out-of-sample. Hypothetical, costs included. See methodology.
What it would take to beat buy & hold on Crude Oil WTI (CL)
317 of 1379 tested setups beat buy-and-hold on Crude Oil WTI (CL) outright. Another 283 could get there with leverage they would survive — but 209 would be liquidated by their own drawdown before they caught it.
| Indicator | Beats B&H unlevered | Leverage needed | Leverage survived |
|---|---|---|---|
| RSI (7) | 3 | none needed | 2.37× |
| Elder Bull Power | 3 | none needed | 2.37× |
| CCI (50) | 2 | 2.24× | 2.89× |
| Sine-Weighted MA | 2 | 2.5× | 2.63× |
| Supertrend Fast (10,2) | 2 | 2.54× | 2.57× |
| Supertrend (10,2) | 2 | 2.54× | 2.57× |
Out-of-sample, costs included. A setup is only listed if the leverage it needs is less than the leverage its own worst drawdown survives — when it isn't, no amount of leverage gets there. Volatility drag isn't modelled, so these are the optimistic case. Every indicator, ranked this way
For Crude Oil WTI (CL), Hammer on the weekly timeframe gave the best balance of return and risk in our test. It beat buy-and-hold — but remember: this is a hypothetical backtest of a standard rule, not a recommendation. Markets change. See the methodology and disclaimer.
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