What Is a Simple Moving Average (SMA)?

It is unclear whether or not more emphasis should be placed on the most recent days in the time period or on more distant data. Many traders believe that new data will better reflect the current trend the security is moving with. At the same time, other traders feel that privileging certain dates over others will…

Two popular trading patterns that use simple moving averages include the death cross and a golden cross. A death cross occurs when the 50-day SMA crosses below the 200-day SMA. This is considered a bearish signal, indicating that further losses are in store. The golden cross occurs when a short-term SMA breaks above a long-term SMA. Reinforced by high…

Moving averages are an important analytical tool used to identify current price trends and the potential for a change in an established trend. The simplest use of an SMA in technical analysis is using it to quickly determine if an asset is in an uptrend or downtrend. Another popular, albeit slightly more complex, analytical use…

To calculate a simple moving average, the number of prices within a time period is divided by the number of total periods. For instance, consider shares of Tesla closed at $10, $11, $12, $11, $14 over a five day period. The simple moving average of Tesla’s shares would equal $10 + $11 + $12 +…

A simple moving average (SMA) is an arithmetic moving average calculated by adding recent prices and then dividing that figure by the number of time periods in the calculation average. For example, one could add the closing price of a security for a number of time periods and then divide this total by that same number of…