MACD

Created by Gerald Appel,

The MA Convergence/Divergence is one of the simplest, reliable, and most often used technical indicators.

It's a momentum oscillator and also a trend following indicator.

Construction

The construction of this trading indicator calculates the difference between 2 moving averages and then plots/draws that as 'Fast' line: the second 'Signal' line is then calculated from the resulting 'Fast' line & then drawn on the same window as 'Fast' line.

'Fast' line - Blue Line
'Signal' line - Red Line

The 'standard' MACD values for 'Fast' line is a 12-period exponential moving average & a 26-period exponential moving average & a 9-period exponential moving applied to the fast line, this plots/draws 'Signal' line.

Fast-line = difference between 12 & 26 exponential MAs
Signal-line = moving average of this difference of 9-periods

MACD Indicator Analysis Signals

Stock Technical Analysis and Generating Signals

The MACD is oftenly used as a trend following indicator and works most efficiently when interpreting the trending market movements. The 3 common techniques of using MACD indicator to generate signals are:

Stock Indices Cross-Overs Signals:

Fast-line/Signal Line Cross-over:

A buy signal gets generated when the Fast line crosses above Signal line
A sell stock signal gets generated/derived when the Fast line crosses below the Signal line.

However, in a strong trending market this stock signal gives a lot of whipsaws, the best cross-over to use would thus be the Zero Line Cross-over Signal that's less prone to whipsaw fakeouts.

Zero Line Crossover Signals:

When the FastLine crosses above zero center line a buy stock signal is generated.
when the FastLine crosses below the zero center line a sell stock trading signal is generated.

Divergence Trading:

Looking for divergences between the MACD and price can prove to be very effective in spotting the potential reversal and/or trend continuation points in stock trading price movement. There two types of divergence-setups:

Classic Divergence Trading Setup Signals
Hidden Divergence Signals

Overbought/Over-sold Conditions:

MACD indicator is also used to spot potential overbought-oversold conditions in stock price action movements.

These levels and regions are derived & generated if the shorter MACD indicator Lines separate significantly from the median, this is an indication that stock price action is over-extending & it will soon return to the more realistic levels.

MACD and Moving Average Indices Cross Over System

This stock indicator can be combined with others to form a trading system. A good combination together with the MA crossover trading method. A signal gets generated when both give a trading signal in same direction.

MACD Stock Indicator Analysis Signals

Technical Analysis in Indices Trade

Study More Guides and Topics:

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