An event marker that puts a vertical line on the candle where the short moving average crosses down through the long one.
- Weapon tier
- Standard
- Slots used
- Candle markings 1/3
Concept
It compares the average close of the last 5 candles (the short line) with that of the last 20 candles (the long line). The candle where the short line moves from above the long line to below it is a "dead cross".
It is commonly read as "recent prices have started to fall below their longer average". It mirrors “MA Golden Cross”, and since it is built from averages it is just as late.
- MA Dead Cross
- Simple Moving Average
- Simple Moving Average
Charts by TradingView Lightweight Charts™
80 candles with the 5- and 20-candle simple moving averages and volume. The price rises and stalls at the top, and at candle 60 (yellow vertical line) the short line drops below the long one. The price then falls with big down candles and partly recovers. Keyboard: ←/→ to move, +/− to zoom, 0 to see the whole chart.
The cross happened on the candle with the yellow vertical line. Notice that it came a few candles after the top — averages are late. This scene was picked because the price fell after the cross; it is just as common for the price to rise again right after one. The game draws only the vertical line, without the moving averages. Drag the chart sideways with a finger or the mouse to move it, and pinch with two fingers to zoom in. With a keyboard, click the chart, then use ←/→ to move and +/− to zoom.
How it is calculated
Short line = simple average of the last 5 closes, long line = simple average of the last 20 closes.
For every candle, take the gap between them (short line − long line).
If the gap was 0 or above on the previous candle and is below 0 on this one, this candle gets the event marker.
Parameters
| What it sets | Name in the game | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Candles in the short moving average | fast | 5 | 1 – 100 |
| Candles in the long moving average | slow | 20 | 2 – 200 |
Trading ideas
A dead cross at the end of an uptrend is commonly used as a sign that "it is time to consider reducing what you hold". Check whether highs have stopped rising (lesson 2) and whether volume grew on the way down.
Many traders use it less as a sell signal and more as a reason to hold off on new buys.
Common traps
- In a sideways stretch, golden and dead crosses alternate often. Trading every one of them only adds up fees.
- It is built from averages, so it is late. By the time it appears, the price has often already fallen a good way from the top.
- The chart on this page was picked because the price fell after the cross. Rising again after a cross is common too, so read it with the trend and volume.
In the game
- “MA Dead Cross” is a “Standard” weapon and uses 1 “Candle markings” slot (limit 3).
- The game draws a faint grey vertical line in the price area on every candle where the event happens, and writes the weapon name only on the most recent line. It does not draw the two moving averages — equip Simple Moving Average as well if you want to see them.
- If you equip it together with “MA Golden Cross”, both crosses appear on one chart as vertical lines of different styles (solid and dashed).
Related indicators and lessons
- MACD — A trend indicator that uses the gap between a fast and a slow exponential moving average to show whether the two averages are pulling apart or closing in.
- Ichimoku Cloud — A trend indicator that uses five lines and a cloud to show at a glance where the price sits within its past price range.
- Pivot Line — An indicator that uses the previous candle’s high, low and close to set five reference lines (Pivot, R1, R2, S1, S2) for the current candle in advance.
- DMI — A trend indicator that shows, as two lines side by side, the force pushing highs higher (+DI) and the force pushing lows lower (−DI).
- Parabolic SAR — An indicator that uses a single trailing “stop line” to show whether the price is in a rising or a falling stretch, and when it flipped.
- Aroon — An indicator that judges whether a new trend has started by how long ago the recent high and low were made.
- Supertrend — A trend indicator that keeps a single line above or below the price and uses its color and position to show whether the price is in an uptrend or a downtrend.
- Exponential Moving Average — A line that averages recent closes with more weight on the newest ones, so it follows price changes faster than the simple moving average.
- MA Golden Cross — An event marker that puts a vertical line on the candle where the short moving average crosses up through the long one.
- ADX — An indicator that shows, as a number from 0 to 100, how strongly the price is moving in one direction, whether up or down.
- 3. Moving averages
- 2. Trends and sideways moves