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MACD

General info

  • Stands for Moving Average Convergence Divergence
  • The MACD is a momentum indicator that shows the relationship between two moving averages
  • The MACD line is calculated by subtracting the 26-period exponential moving average (EMA) from the 12-period EMA.
  • The signal line is a nine-period EMA of the MACD line.

 

Commonly used to identify the changes in the strength, direction, momentum and direction of a trend

 

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The MACD is made of 3 elements

  1. MACD line (blue - 12d minue 26d EMA)
  2. Signal line (orange - 9d EMA)
  3. Histogram - differences between the MACD & Signal line

 

Signals

  • Bullish when MACD (blue) crosses above signal (orange)
  • Bearish when MACD (blue) crosses below signal (orange)
  • zero line cross - above bullish, below bearish

 

Histogram interpretation

  • Growing bars - momentum increasing
  • Shrinking bars - momentum decreasing