ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Speeding up the oscillator by Grady Garrett In 1986, I began a study of Standard & Poor's 100-stock Index (OEX) in search of a reliable mechanical trading indicator. This was a volatile time for the OEX-- the bull market was getting its second wind and I idealistically looked for something to help pick tops and bottoms. A popular and time-tested study is the moving average oscillator, which is simply a histogram of the difference between a fast (shorter-period) moving average and a slow (longer-period) moving average, either simple or exponential. The classic method to trade the oscillator i...