DeMark Indicators: TD Sequential, TD Combo & How to Use Them in Crypto

You’ve been on the right side of a trade, direction, correct; timing wrong. The RSI said oversold. You bought. It went more oversold.

The MACD crossed. You held. It kept falling. The chart wasn’t lying. You just didn’t have the right question. RSI asks how fast the trend is moving.

DeMark indicators ask how long it’s been moving — and count down to when it’s likely to stop.

What are DeMark Indicators?

Source

DeMark Indicators are a specialized set of technical analysis tools designed to aid traders in navigating the complexities of financial markets.

Developed by renowned technical analyst Thomas DeMark, these indicators employ a unique blend of price and volume data to identify trends, predict potential reversals, and pinpoint overbought or oversold conditions.

The DeMark indicator suite emerged in the 1970s, a product of Thomas DeMark’s extensive research and experimentation.

Through meticulous analysis of historical market data, DeMark identified recurring patterns and devised a series of indicators to quantify these patterns and translate them into actionable trading signals.

Read Also: What Does 5x Mean in Crypto?

Why DeMark Thinks Differently Than Every Other Indicator

Most technical indicators measure momentum. They tell you how fast the trend is moving or whether it’s accelerating. The implicit question they answer is: should I follow the trend?

DeMark indicators ask a different question: how much longer can this trend last?

The philosophy behind the entire DeMark system is this: markets don’t top because smart sellers appear.

They top because the last buyer has bought. Markets don’t bottom because smart buyers step in. They bottom because the last seller has sold.

At the extremes of any trend, the participants who believe in that direction have already committed. There’s nobody left to push it further.

DeMark’s indicators count toward that exhaustion point systematically not with momentum oscillators, not with moving averages, but by counting the sequential pressure of bars that confirm the trend’s continuation.

When those counts reach their threshold, the system flags: the trend may have exhausted itself. That’s the signal.

This is why DeMark indicators work best in trending markets, go dormant during consolidation, and measure something entirely different from RSI or MACD.

Read Also: How to earn crypto passively?

Real-World DeMark Example — May 2025 Bloomberg Call

DeMark’s track record gives the system credibility beyond theory. In May 2025, Tom DeMark appeared on Bloomberg and called market exhaustion near S&P 4,200 using his Sequential and Combo indicators.

The index stalled within 1% of that level. This wasn’t the first such call. DeMark has called multiple market tops and bottoms with documented precision across equities, currencies, and crypto.

His work with Tudor Investment Corp and SAC Capital in the 1980s and 1990s established the methodology’s credibility in institutional trading before it became widely known.

For crypto traders, the same indicators that DeMark applied to the S&P in May 2025 apply to BTC/USDT on the daily chart.

The math doesn’t care whether the underlying asset is an index or a cryptocurrency, it counts bars

How TD Sequential Actually Works: The 9 and the 13

TD Sequential is the flagship DeMark indicator, the one you see as numbers counting on a chart. It has two phases: Setup and Countdown.

Phase 1: The Price Flip

Before counting begins, the market must produce a price flip. For a buy setup, the current bar must close lower than the close 4 bars ago and the bar immediately before it must have closed higher than the close 4 bars ago. This flip signals a potential change in direction and starts the count.

Phase 2: Setup (counting to 9)

After the price flip, the Setup count begins. For a buy setup: each bar must close lower than the close 4 bars ago. When 9 consecutive bars meet this condition, the Setup is complete.

The 9 is your first signal. A completed buy Setup says: the market has been under consistent downward pressure for 9 bars.

Trend exhaustion is possible not guaranteed, but possible. Some traders enter here. Most wait.

Phase 3: Countdown (counting to 13)

If Setup completes, Countdown begins. Countdown uses a different comparison: each qualifying bar must close lower than the low 2 bars ago (for a buy countdown).

These bars don’t need to be consecutive — they accumulate until 13 are reached.

The 13 is your second signal, the more aggressive confirmation that the trend has deployed its last buyers (or sellers).

When a TD Sequential completes both Setup and Countdown and reaches 13, the DeMark system considers the trend at maximum exhaustion.

The 12-bar rule: If the market doesn’t show a reversal within 12 bars of a completed 13, the signal is considered failed. The existing trend is likely to continue.

This qualification is what separates experienced DeMark traders from those who blindly enter on every 13.

Timeframe guidance: TD Sequential works on any timeframe but produces significantly more reliable signals on H4 and above. On 5-minute charts, the noise overwhelms the signal.

Core Principles Behind DeMark Indicators

DeMark Indicators are built upon the fundamental principle that market psychology plays a significant role in price movements.

By analyzing price action and volume fluctuations, these indicators aim to capture the collective sentiment of market participants, thereby anticipating potential turning points in the market.

TD Sequential vs. TD Combo: Two Smoke Detectors, Not One

Both indicators use the same philosophical framework counting toward trend exhaustion. The difference is sensitivity.

TD Sequential fires at both the 9 (Setup) and the 13 (Countdown). It’s the early warning system.

The 9 often catches the exhaustion signal while the market is still showing momentum which is useful but means more false signals. The 13 adds confirmation.

TD Combo is more selective. It applies stricter conditions to both Setup and Countdown, filtering out many of the intermediate signals that TD Sequential catches.

It fires less often and when it fires, the signal carries more weight. Think of it this way: if TD Sequential is the smoke detector that goes off when there’s smoke, TD Combo waits until there’s also heat.

Using both simultaneously, looking for setups where Sequential and Combo align, produces fewer signals and higher conviction entries.

For most traders new to DeMark, starting with TD Sequential on daily or 4-hour charts gives enough signal frequency to learn the system without being overwhelmed by the Combo’s stricter criteria.

DeMark vs. RSI: Why You Might Need Both

The most common question from traders encountering DeMark for the first time: isn’t this just a fancy RSI?

No. They measure fundamentally different things.

RSI measures the ratio of average gains to average losses over a period. It tells you how strong recent price movement has been relative to the opposite direction.

When RSI is at 80, momentum to the upside has been dominant. That’s a momentum signal.

DeMark’s TD Sequential measures how many sequential bars have been making progressively new commitments in the same direction.

When bar 9 of a sell Setup completes, it means 9 consecutive closes have each been higher than the close 4 bars before them, a structural counting of directional commitment that has nothing to do with how fast the movement was.

RSI can read 80 (overbought) and continue higher for weeks. A completed TD Sequential 13 says the market has exhausted a specific number of committed bars in one direction and is statistically more vulnerable to reversal
.

Used together: RSI tells you how strong the trend is. TD Sequential tells you how long it’s been going and whether it’s in exhaustion territory.

Different questions, different answers, more complete picture.

How to Access DeMark Indicators

DeMark indicators are difficult to replicate. For the full proprietary DeMark Analytics suite (Symbolik), it requires a paid subscription.

But TD Sequential is available free on TradingView. Search “TD Sequential” in TradingView’s indicator library and you’ll find multiple community implementations.

The most-used versions display the standard 9 (Setup completion) and 13 (Countdown completion) numbers on your chart exactly as described above.

For a trader who wants to start learning DeMark on real charts without a paid subscription, TradingView’s community TD Sequential implementation is the correct starting point.

Apply it to the BTC/USDT daily chart, look back at historical 9s and 13s, and watch how the market behaved within 12 bars of each completed count.

That’s the fastest way to calibrate your read of the signals.

Advantages of DeMark Indicators in Crypto Markets

Here are some of the advantages of DeMark indicators in crypto markets:

• Early Trend Identification: DeMark Indicators can provide early warnings of potential trend shifts, allowing traders to position themselves accordingly.

• Overbought/Oversold Signals: These indicators can help identify when an asset is nearing overbought or oversold territory, potentially signaling a trend reversal.

• Confirmation of Existing Trends: DeMark Indicators can be used to confirm existing trends, providing additional confidence for traders.

Limitations and Considerations When Using DeMark Indicators

• False Signals: Like any technical indicator, DeMark Indicators can generate false signals. Combining them with other analysis methods can help mitigate this risk.

• Market Context Matters: DeMark Indicators should be used in conjunction with other technical and fundamental analysis to gain a comprehensive understanding of market conditions.

• Indicator Mastery Requires Practice: Effectively interpreting DeMark Indicators requires practice and experience. Backtesting with historical data can help refine your skills.

Related: How to Use Fibonacci Retracement in Cryptocurrency Trading

Conclusion

He still gets trades wrong. The 13 fires, he enters, and occasionally the trend continues past the signal which is why the 12-bar rule exists.

But he stopped buying RSI divergence into continued downtrends. He started asking how long the trend had been running before he decided to fade it.

DeMark indicators didn’t give him certainty. They gave him a better question. That turned out to be enough.