Signals

Momentum

Measure price change over an explicit lookback window.

What it is

Momentum measures absolute price change over a lookback window, helping you answer a simple question quickly: is price higher or lower than it was N periods ago?

When to use it

Ranking assets by recent strength.
Building fast trend filters without extra smoothing.
Comparing whether price acceleration is improving or fading.

The maths

Momentum(N) = close[t] - close[t-N] This is the price difference over N bars.

What it tells you

Positive and growing momentum confirms an uptrend. A momentum line crossing zero from below is a potential buy signal, and divergence between momentum and price can precede reversals.

REST example

python

import os
import requests

response = requests.get(
  'https://api.financedata.com/v1/signals/Momentum/AAPL',
  params={'start_date': '2025-01-01', 'end_date': '2025-04-30', 'period': 20},
  headers={'X-API-Key': os.environ['FDA_KEY']},
  timeout=30,
)
response.raise_for_status()
print(response.json())

MCP example

Tool call body

{
"name": "get_momentum",
"arguments": {
  "symbol": "AAPL",
  "start_date": "2025-01-01",
  "end_date": "2025-04-30",
  "period": 20
}
}

Agent prompt that triggers it

Run the 20-period momentum indicator for AAPL and summarize whether price acceleration is improving or cooling off.