I built the WFF Strategies Panel because I kept bouncing between five different indicators trying to decide if a setup was valid. That gets expensive and slow when you are trading NQ or ES with real money on the line. This panel puts ten separate signal types on one chart. Each one is independently toggleable and wired to its own alert condition. You decide which signals you care about on a given day. The chart does not decide for you.
This guide walks through what each signal does, how to set it up on TradingView, how to monitor the same signals inside Sierra Chart, and how to use it as part of a plan rather than just staring at colored dots.
What the Indicator Shows and Why It Matters
The panel covers ten signal types labeled A through J. Here is what each one tracks.
- Signal A (EMA Pullback): Price retraces to a short EMA and shows a reversal bar. Classic trend continuation entry.
- Signal B (VWAP Mean Reversion): Price extends far from VWAP on the session, then prints a reversal. Good for fading overextended moves during RTH.
- Signal C (Donchian Breakout): Price closes outside the prior period Donchian channel. Momentum breakout logic.
- Signal D (RSI Divergence): Price makes a new high or low but RSI does not confirm. Classic divergence warning.
- Signal E (Volume Spike): A bar prints volume well above the rolling average, flagging potential institutional activity or capitulation.
- Signal F (Turtle Soup): A false breakout of a prior swing high or low that reverses back inside range. A stop-hunt pattern common in futures.
- Signal G (Fair Value Gap): Plots unmitigated FVG zones from prior candles. Price often returns to fill these before continuing.
- Signal H (Order Block): Marks the last opposing candle before an impulsive move. A key ICT concept for entry refinement.
- Signal I (Multi-timeframe Bias): Reads the higher timeframe trend and flags alignment or conflict with the current bar direction.
- Signal J (Composite): Fires only when multiple signals from the panel agree. This is the highest-confidence filter.
Why does having all of this in one place matter? Confluence is the only thing that separates a signal from noise. When Signal A and Signal H fire at the same price level, that is worth paying attention to. When they are scattered all over the chart with nothing overlapping, you stay flat.
How to Use It on TradingView
This section assumes you already have the indicator added to your chart. If you need access, the panel is available to WFF members through the Qualified tier.
Step 1: Add the indicator and open settings
- Open TradingView and load your NQ, ES, MNQ, or MES chart at your primary timeframe. I use 5-minute for entries and keep a 15-minute chart open in a second pane.
- Click the Indicators button (the beaker icon at the top) and search for "WFF Strategies Panel".
- Once added, click the gear icon next to the indicator name to open the settings dialog.
Step 2: Toggle only the signals you plan to act on
- In the Inputs tab, you will see a toggle switch for each signal A through J. Turn off any signal you are not actively using in your current plan.
- A common starting point: enable A (EMA pullback), G (FVG), H (Order Block), and J (Composite). That covers trend continuation with structural confluence.
- If you are in a choppy, range-bound session, consider swapping A for B (VWAP reversion) and adding F (Turtle Soup) for the stop-hunt fades.
- Do not run all ten signals at once. More signals on screen means more noise and slower decisions.
Step 3: Wire phone alerts for the signals you care about
- Right-click on the chart and select "Add Alert", or press Alt+A.
- In the Condition dropdown, select "WFF Strategies Panel" as the indicator.
- You will see a separate alert condition for each signal. Select the one you want, for example "Signal J Composite Long" or "Signal H Order Block Short".
- Set the notification to "Send push notification to app" and make sure you have the TradingView mobile app installed with push notifications enabled.
- Set the alert to "Once per bar close" if you want confirmed signals only. Use "Once per bar" if you want real-time firing during the bar. I prefer bar close for less noise.
- Name the alert clearly, something like "WFF-J-LONG-NQ-5m" so you know what you are looking at when your phone buzzes at 9:45am.
- Repeat for each signal you are monitoring. You can stack multiple alerts without issue.
Step 4: Read the chart without chasing
When an alert fires, your job is not to immediately enter. Your job is to go to the chart and ask three questions. Is price at a meaningful level (prior high, VWAP, key round number)? Is the signal type appropriate for the current session character (trending or ranging)? Does the Signal J composite agree? If yes to all three, then you have a setup worth sizing into.
How to Use It in Sierra Chart
Sierra Chart is where I do my actual execution. TradingView is where I read the signals and form the bias. The two complement each other well because Sierra gives me depth of market and precise order routing while TV gives me the visual signal layer.
Step 1: Set up the companion ACSIL study
The WFF Strategies Panel includes a companion Sierra Chart ACSIL study (the .cpp source is included in your member download). This study replicates the signal logic from the Pine Script version so both platforms are reading the same conditions.
- Download the ACSIL .cpp file from your WFF member dashboard and place it in your Sierra Chart ACS_Source folder (default path: C:\SierraChart\ACS_Source).
- In Sierra Chart, go to Analysis, then Build Custom Studies DLL. Select the WFF file and click Build. Sierra will compile it and make it available as a custom study.
- On your Sierra Chart NQ or ES chart, go to Analysis, then Studies, then Add Custom Study. Find the WFF Strategies Panel entry and add it.
Step 2: Configure signal toggles in the study settings
- Double-click the study in the studies list to open its settings.
- You will see Input fields for each signal A through J, matching the TradingView toggle layout. Enable or disable each one to match your TradingView setup. Consistency between platforms matters here because you want both screens telling the same story.
- Set the subgraph colors for each signal so they are visually distinct. I use gold for Signal J, blue for Signal A, and white for Signal H. Adjust to your preference.
Step 3: Set up Sierra Chart alerts for your signals
- In the study settings, go to the Alerts tab.
- For each signal subgraph you care about, check the "Alert" checkbox and select your preferred alert action. Options include a sound alert, a popup, or forwarding to Sierra Chart's alert log.
- If you have Sierra's remote notification set up, you can forward alerts to email or to a third-party service.
- Keep the alert condition set to "Cross Above 0" for long signals and "Cross Below 0" for short signals, matching the subgraph output format from the ACSIL code.
Step 4: Use Sierra for execution, TV for context
My actual workflow during RTH: TradingView is on one monitor showing the 5-minute and 15-minute panels with signals visible. Sierra Chart is on a second monitor showing the DOM, the 1-minute chart, and the same signal layer from the ACSIL study. When I get a TradingView phone alert, I check Sierra for the exact entry price and depth conditions before pulling the trigger.
How to Combine It With the Rest of Your Plan
The panel does not replace a trading plan. It is a filter layer. Here is how I integrate it.
- I set a daily bias before RTH opens based on overnight range, key levels, and macro context. The panel does not set bias. Bias comes from reading the tape and the prior session.
- During the session I only take trades in the direction of bias. If my bias is long, I am watching for Signal A and Signal H long entries only, ignoring short signals entirely unless something invalidates the bias.
- Signal J (Composite) is my highest-confidence trigger. If J fires against my bias, I pay attention to it as a warning, not an entry in the opposite direction.
- I use Signal E (volume spike) as a context signal, not an entry signal. A volume spike at a key level confirms the significance of that area. It does not by itself tell me direction.
- After the session I log which signals fired, which I acted on, and what happened. That log is how you calibrate your own relationship with each signal over time.
No indicator is a shortcut. The panel makes it faster to find confluence and easier to get alerts out of TradingView. What it does not do is make decisions for you. That part is still on you.
Test Your Setup Before You Risk Real Money
Try this before going live: run Signal H (Order Block) on NQ over the last three months and see how often it fires at a meaningful level versus in the middle of nothing. That one test alone will tell you whether you should be trading it with real size.
You can run that test and many others on 8-plus years of ES and NQ data inside the WFF Backtest Lab. Upload your signal conditions, choose your date range, and get a full performance breakdown across different market regimes rather than just recent setups.
Backtest Credits unlock the Qualified tier of the WFF Backtest Lab, giving you full access to the historical data engine and the strategy stress-tester.
If you want more breakdowns like this one, including other indicators in the WFF toolkit and how I combine them with real trade structure, check the WFF blog for more setups and indicator guides.
This content is for educational purposes only and is not financial advice. Past performance of any indicator or strategy does not guarantee future results. Most short-term futures traders lose money. Trade only with capital you can afford to lose and always use proper risk management.