Guide · Volume & money flow
Does Klinger Oscillator work?
Across 375 stocks, Klinger Oscillator cut the worst fall on 73%, beat buying and holding on risk-adjusted return on 10% and on raw return on 13%. Mainly a seatbelt: it softened the big falls on most stocks, but usually gave up return to do it.
What it predicts
Volume signed by the direction of the day's typical price and weighted by how long that direction has lasted, run through 34 and 55-day averages. Hold while it is above its 13-day trigger line.
- Volume force is each day's volume, counted as plus when high + low + close rises and minus when it falls, and weighted more heavily the longer the current run of same-direction days has lasted.
- The oscillator is the 34-day exponential average of volume force minus the 55-day one. The trigger is its 13-day exponential average.
- In when the oscillator is above the trigger.
- Out when it is below.
Volume & money flow plays bet that volume shows conviction. The family guide
How to use it
- It trades often (about 42 switches a year per stock), so costs, spreads and taxes eat into it more than the backtest's 0.05% per switch suggests.
- Expect to be wrong more often than right: only 35% of its calls worked. Its results come from the size of the winners, so following it means sitting through strings of small losses.
- It worked best on Industrials & rentals (33% beat holding on risk-adjusted return) and worst on Media & telecom (0%).
- Use it as one input. Your signal combines the plays you count with the other factors you weight into one call.
When it worked
Klinger Oscillator did best against holding in the COVID drop (+17% median gap) and worst in the 2020–21 rally (−26%). Median gap in return against holding the same stock (per year over stretches longer than 18 months; crypto excluded).
| 2008 crash | Recovery 2009–19 | COVID drop | 2020–21 rally | 2022 bear | Since Oct 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klinger Oscillator | +9% | −11% | +17% | −26% | +9% | −10% |
Where it worked
By kind of stock: how often it beat holding on risk-adjusted return, and the median Sharpe ratio gap.
| Group | Beat holding, risk-adjusted | Sharpe gap |
|---|---|---|
| Industrials & rentals | 33% | -0.18 |
| Energy & power | 17% | -0.17 |
| Micro caps | 17% | -0.17 |
| Real estate | 16% | -0.18 |
| Healthcare | 11% | -0.26 |
| Industrials & materials | 10% | -0.27 |
| Software & devices | 9% | -0.36 |
| Semiconductors | 9% | -0.41 |
| Metals & mining | 8% | -0.21 |
| Financials | 4% | -0.24 |
| Sectors | 0% | -0.40 |
| Indexes & ETFs | 0% | -0.42 |
| Big tech | 0% | -0.32 |
| Consumer & retail | 0% | -0.39 |
| Media & telecom | 0% | -0.29 |
Where it helped most
Sharpe ratio gap against holding, stocks with 3+ years of history
Right now
Klinger Oscillator holds 238 of 377 names as of the Oct 13, 2026 close.
Changed its call in the last two weeks:
Backtest results since 2005 (or as long as each stock has traded), against holding the same stock over the same dates, after 0.05% per switch. Past results don't promise future ones. This analysis does not constitute trading advice. Please meet with an advisor or independently review sources before making any decision.