> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://alphacastio.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Technical Analysis

> Estimate 132 technical analysis metrics on financial assets — momentum, volatility, volume, overlap studies and pattern recognition.

The **Technical Analysis** step estimates 132 metrics for the technical analysis of financial assets, drawn from TA-Lib and grouped into eight families.

## How to use it

<Steps>
  <Step title="Load the financial data">
    Most metrics need open, close, high, low and volume variables to work properly. You can load these directly with [Fetch Yahoo Finance](/steps/fetch-yahoo).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add the Technical Analysis step">
    Select the function group, the function, its parameters and an optional prefix, then press save. The new variables are added to the dataset.

    <Frame>
      <img src="https://mintcdn.com/alphacastio/ttF_U-V9HDrmrPbo/images/steps/talib-1.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=ttF_U-V9HDrmrPbo&q=85&s=da8cbbddfdce81a73b373f0493c1bfd4" alt="Configuring the Technical Analysis step" width="1520" height="612" data-path="images/steps/talib-1.png" />
    </Frame>
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Function groups

Pick a group first, then a function within it. Each function exposes its own parameters, prefilled with TA-Lib defaults.

| Group                 | Functions | Examples                                                        |
| --------------------- | --------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Pattern Recognition   | 61        | `CDLDOJI`, `CDLENGULFING`, `CDLABANDONEDBABY`, `CDL3BLACKCROWS` |
| Momentum Indicators   | 30        | `RSI`, `MACD`, `ADX`, `AROON`, `APO`                            |
| Overlap Studies       | 17        | `SMA`, `EMA`, `BBANDS`, `SAR`, `KAMA`                           |
| Statistic Functions   | 9         | `BETA`, `CORREL`, `LINEARREG`, `STDDEV`                         |
| Cycle Indicators      | 5         | `HT_DCPERIOD`, `HT_DCPHASE`, `HT_SINE`, `HT_TRENDMODE`          |
| Price Transform       | 4         | `AVGPRICE`, `MEDPRICE`, `TYPPRICE`, `WCLPRICE`                  |
| Volatility Indicators | 3         | `ATR`, `NATR`, `TRANGE`                                         |
| Volume Indicators     | 3         | `AD`, `ADOSC`, `OBV`                                            |

Each function's output columns are named after the indicator and prefixed with whatever you enter in the **prefix** field, so you can run the same indicator more than once with different parameters.

<Tip>
  The complete function list, with a plain-language description and default parameters for each, is in the group and function dropdowns of the step itself.
</Tip>

<Tip>
  [This example dataset](https://www.alphacast.io/datasets/18042) contains every metric estimated for AAPL.
</Tip>

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Portfolio statistics" icon="briefcase" href="/steps/portfolio-analysis">
    Build tear sheets and rolling performance stats.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Fetch Yahoo Finance" icon="chart-line" href="/steps/fetch-yahoo">
    Load the price data these metrics need.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>