Technical analysis · Glossary
Moving average
A smoothed series calculated from prices over a rolling window.
Definition and explanation
A moving average smooths price data by calculating an average over a defined lookback. A simple moving average weights observations equally, while an exponential moving average gives more weight to recent values. Moving averages lag price and can produce false signals in sideways markets.
Example
A 20-period moving average on a 1-hour chart averages the relevant prices across the latest 20 hourly periods.
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