The two waves crossing suggests a cycle top or bottom.
The short answer
- What is the Hilbert sine wave (HT Sine Wave)?
- Hilbert sine wave: a sine wave that represents the cycle phase.
- When is HT Sine Wave wrong?
- It fails completely when trend dominates the cycle. See its current reading on the platform's symbols, at the latest daily close, in the "Reading now" table on this page. See its reading now →
Reading now
| Ticker | Value | Five sessions ago | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPY | 0.34 | −0.92 | Above 0 |
| QQQ | −0.28 | −0.66 | Below 0 |
| IWM | 0.43 | 0.30 | Above 0 |
| DIA | 0.59 | 0.20 | Above 0 |
A description of where the number sits against its thresholds. It is not an entry or exit signal.
Indicator limit
It fails completely when trend dominates the cycle.
Read it with
Average Directional Index: it fails when trend dominates, and ADX above 25 says that it does.
Answers: is momentum shifting? Is it moving in a cycle?
What it actually does
The Hilbert sine wave extracts the phase of the dominant cycle and draws it as two lines: a main sine wave and a shifted (leading) copy. When the market moves in cycles, the two lines cross at the cycle's turning points with striking regularity. When it trends, they lose their meaning.
Reading it two ways
In a cyclical regime: crossovers of the two lines are early turning-point signals, fairly accurate. As a regime detector: when the lines drift apart and run straight with no crossovers, that announces the market has left the cyclical phase for a trending one, so cycle tools get switched off and trend tools switched on.
Its real value is in the first question
The most valuable thing it offers is not cycle timing but the answer to "which game is being played?". Most traders' losses come from applying trend tools in a cyclical market, or the reverse. This indicator is one of the few tools designed specifically to tell the two regimes apart.
Hypothetical example
A sector fund swings at a roughly monthly rhythm for half a year, and the crossovers of the two waves catch its lows and peaks with notable accuracy. Then the sector enters a strong uptrend. The two waves drift apart and the crossovers stop: the tool itself declared its style no longer valid.
Where it errs and why
At the switch between the two regimes it detects the change late, so false signals appear at the edges. And the cyclical assumption itself does not hold for many assets.
Read it with
It is not read alone. The environment is classified with the trend strength indicator, confirmed with volume, and placed on the structural levels from the gamma map, since a signal at a dense wall carries more weight than one in open space.
Where to see it on the platform
The technical chart in the members area shows it in its full family on any symbol and timeframe you choose.
Assumption limits and calibration
It has no manual parameter. The adaptation is fully automatic, which cuts both ways: nothing can be tuned when performance goes bad, so the only choice is to judge whether the asset itself is suitable. A simple test: count its true crossovers against its false ones over the asset's history. A ratio under two thirds means the asset has no cyclicality worth the tool.
