SKILL.md
ta-lib — C-Optimized Technical Analysis
TA-Lib (Technical Analysis Library) is a C library with a Python wrapper providing 150+ technical analysis functions and 61 candlestick pattern recognition functions. It is the industry standard for performance-critical indicator computation, used in production trading systems where pandas-ta or pure-Python alternatives are too slow.
What TA-Lib Is
TA-Lib was originally written in C for financial market data analysis. The Python wrapper (TA-Lib on PyPI, imported as talib) provides:
- 150+ indicator functions across overlap, momentum, volume, volatility, cycle, and math categories
- 61 candlestick pattern recognition functions — the most comprehensive pattern library available
- C-speed computation — 10-100x faster than pure-Python equivalents on large datasets
- Two APIs: a function API (pass arrays directly) and an abstract API (pass dict of arrays)
- NumPy native — all inputs and outputs are NumPy arrays
Installation
TA-Lib requires the underlying C library to be installed first: