A plain-English explainer — then the honest backtest, because knowing what it is isn't the same as knowing whether it works.
RSI, the Relative Strength Index, is a momentum oscillator that moves between 0 and 100. It measures how one-sided recent price moves have been. The textbook reads below 30 as 'oversold' and above 70 as 'overbought'.
The most popular use is mean-reversion: buy when RSI drops below 30 expecting a bounce. Others use it for momentum — buying strength as RSI pushes above 50 or 60 — which is almost the opposite idea.
The honest results split hard by version: naive 'buy below 30' dip-buying is weak, while adding a trend filter or using tighter Connors-style thresholds holds up far better. The indicator isn't the strategy — the rules around it are.
Does RSI (the Relative Strength Index) actually work?
Don't take the textbook's word for it — see the honest, survivorship-free score.
See the honest backtest →buying RSI below 30 · the Connors RSI-2 · RSI momentum above 60 · the RSI 50 cross · all strategies →
RSI, the Relative Strength Index, is a momentum oscillator that moves between 0 and 100. It measures how one-sided recent price moves have been. The textbook reads below 30 as 'oversold' and above 70 as 'overbought'. The most popular use is mean-reversion: buy when RSI drops below 30 expec
On its own, RSI (the Relative Strength Index) is an indicator, not a guarantee. We backtested the strategies built on it with survivorship-free data — see the honest scores linked below.
Get the monthly honest teardown
One popular strategy put on trial, in your inbox — once a month. No signals, no hype.
Educational, not financial advice. An honest backtest score measures whether a result survives statistical scrutiny — it does not predict future profit, and is not a buy or sell signal. · About · FAQ · All strategies