Tool Tutorials

Daily MA Positioning Tutorial

What Moving Average Positioning measures

This tool looks at three short- to medium-term trend lines: the 5-day, 10-day, and 20-day moving averages. Instead of watching price against a single line, the engine tracks how the three averages are ordered and spaced relative to each other.

5-day average 10-day average 20-day average 1.68% 4.42% the tool measures the distance between each pair
The three averages start together and fan apart as a move runs. AAPL's three lines read in order, 5-day highest, then 10-day, then 20-day, with the 5-day sitting 1.68% above the 10-day and the 10-day 4.42% above the 20-day.

Two dimensions

The arrangement of the three averages carries two pieces of information at once:

  1. Order: which line is on top. When the fast averages sit above the slow ones (5-day > 10-day > 20-day), recent prices are running ahead of older prices. That's the shape of a healthy uptrend.
  2. Spacing: how far apart the lines are.
    • Tightly bunched: quiet market, low volatility, price going nowhere.
    • Widely fanned: a strong move that has pulled well away from its average.

How matches are found

The tool compares today's 5, 10 and 20 day moving average positioning against every similar positioning the ticker has ever printed. This includes both the order and spacing of the moving averages.

Tool Glossary

The Basics

Moving average

The average close over the last N sessions, recalculated each day. This tool reads the 5-day, the 10-day and the 20-day together.

Positioning

Where the three averages sit relative to one another. It is what the tool measures, rather than where price sits against any single line, and it comes down to their order and their spacing.

Order

The order the moving averages appear on top of each other.

Spacing

How far apart the moving averages are, in percent. Tightly bunched is a quiet market. Widely fanned is a strong move that has pulled well away from its average.

The Readings

Matched days

The past sessions that met the same conditions you set. Every statistic the tool prints is measured from these and nothing else.

Sample

The number of matched occurrences behind a statistic. A 70% hit rate off 8 occurrences and a 70% hit rate off 400 are not the same claim. The sample is printed next to every result for that reason.