Here is a new experimental indicator that we've been developing that is focused on gauging momentum.
The indicator fluctuates above and below zero, but instead of using zero as the threshold for differentiating positive and negative momentum, it uses an 89 period median(plotted as the thick white line).
The momentum over the previous 10 periods is then calculated and then smoothed using a 6 period Exponential Moving Average (EMA). This, as well as the choice to use a median as the central divider were done to eliminate the whipsaws that are often generated when making strategies based on pure momentum and crossings above/below 0. The EMA alternates between lime green when it is above the median and pink when it is below. The area between the EMA and median is filled in green when EMA > median and pink when the EMA is less than the median.
Then, a 29 period Simple Moving Average of momentum is calculated. Here, going with a SMA over EMA and a longer window(29) seemed to make sense as it is counteracts the high responsiveness of the EMA. The SMA is green when greater than the median and red when less than the median.
There's two ways to trade using this system. One way would be to go long when the momentum EMA crosses over the white median line and turns lime green, then short when it crosses back under the median line and turns white. Another option is to go long under the same conditions, but short when both the EMA and SMA are above the median and the EMA crosses under the SMA.
Not sure if this exact configuration has already been created by someone, but it'll be interesting to see how it holds up with more backtesting and then running it fully automated.