Moving Average


A moving average is a way to smooth out prices, or similar values, on a graph.  Rather than displaying the exact price of a stock at a certain time, you can average the current price with recent historical prices, and plot the result.  If you use more history, the graph will be further behind, but smoother.

There are several types of moving averages.  The most common types are the simple moving average (SMA), the exponential moving average (EMA), and the volume weighted average price (VWAP).

Traders can use moving averages in many different ways.  Our service generates alerts when a stock price crosses certain moving averages.

Alert Types

We offer the following alert types which are related to this topic.  Click on the icon for a detailed description of the alert, or click on the "more" link for additional examples of each type of alert.

Type Recent Examples More Examples
Time (NY) Symbol Message
Crossed above 200 day moving averageNov 6th, 4:10:02 PMCMT.CATPrice crossed above 200 day SMA (1.1154). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed below 200 day moving averageNov 6th, 4:01:28 PMDYNPrice crossed below 200 day SMA (1.9466). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed above 50 day moving averageNov 6th, 4:46:46 PMUNSPrice crossed above 50 day SMA (29.709). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed below 50 day moving averageNov 6th, 4:52:48 PMXLPrice crossed below 50 day SMA (17.1528). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed above 20 day moving averageNov 6th, 6:17:34 PMTRGTPrice crossed above 20 day SMA (20.0575). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed below 20 day moving averageNov 6th, 4:00:49 PMGEPrice crossed below 20 day SMA (15.35). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed above VWAPNov 6th, 6:59:37 PMAVIIPrice crossed above VWAP (1.4547). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed below VWAPNov 6th, 5:00:04 PMSMSIPrice crossed below VWAP (7.1596). Confirmed by volume.more

See Also

Death Cross, Exponential Moving Average, Golden Cross, Simple Moving Average, VWAP