A confluence is any independent reason a trade should work. One reason is a hunch. Several reasons landing in the same place is an edge.
Why stacking works. Each confluence has a hit rate on its own. When independent signals agree — a liquidity sweep and an order block and discount pricing and a killzone — the probability they're all wrong at once is much lower than any one being wrong. That's the whole game: not finding one perfect signal, but stacking several good ones.
The catch: not all confluences are equal. "HTF bias aligned" is worth far more than "it's near a round number." So you weight them. A weighted grade says an A+ setup isn't just "lots of boxes ticked" — it's the important boxes ticked.
Beware false confluence. Ten indicators that all derive from the same price aren't ten confluences — they're one, counted ten times. True confluence comes from independent readings: structure, liquidity, volume, level, time. That's why a good list spans categories rather than piling up variations of one idea.
In TradeFern, every confluence carries a weight, and your grade is the weighted sum. Tune those weights toward what your data shows actually pays — that's a living edge, not a static checklist.