Smoothed (Wilder) moving average, 14 bars by default, a slow and steady line colored by its slope.
Overview
The Smoothed Moving Average, also called RMA or Wilder's average, draws a slow and steady line over price. It is the same smoothing used inside RSI and ATR.
With Slope Trend Coloring on, the line is green while rising, red while falling and gray when flat. Length is 14 by default.
How it works
Each new value = (previous value x (N - 1) + latest price) / N. This works like an EMA with a smoothing share of 1 / N instead of 2 / (N + 1), so it reacts more slowly than an EMA of the same length.
The first value is seeded with a simple average.
How to use it
- Use it as a calm trend line that ignores small swings.
- Some traders watch the color change as a sign the trend has turned.
- Compare it with an EMA of the same length to see how much smoothing changes the picture.
- Use it as a longer-term trend filter on lower timeframes.
These are ways some traders read it, for learning. They are not trade signals.
Settings
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Settings | |
| SourcePrice series the average smooths. Wilder computed his 1978 indicators on the close, but the recursion accepts any source.Options: Close, Open, High, Low, HL2, HLC3, OHLC4, HLCC4 | Close |
| RMA LengthNumber of bars N in Wilder's smoothing: the line keeps (N − 1)/N of its previous value and blends in 1/N of the new price. That alpha is smaller than an EMA's, so an N-period RMA responds like a (2N − 1)-period EMA. | 14 |
| Style | |
| Slope Trend ColoringColors the line by its slope — bullish while it rises, bearish while it falls. Disable to draw it in the neutral color. | On |
| Bullish | #089981 |
| Bearish | #f23645 |
| Neutral | #787b86 |
| Line WidthWidth of the plotted line, in pixels. | 2 |
Alerts
You can alert on its line crossing a value or the candle close (from the chart's + menu); checked while ZoroCharts is open.
Notes and limits
- Works on any symbol and timeframe; it only needs candle data.
- It lags more than an EMA of the same length.
Education only. Not financial advice. Indicators mark what happened on the chart; they do not predict what price will do. Trading futures, forex, crypto and other markets carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for everyone.