A moving average is the average price over a fixed number of recent trading days, recalculated each day so it 'moves' forward. The 50-day average tracks the medium-term trend and the 200-day tracks the long-term trend. Because it smooths daily fluctuations, the line lags the actual price.
Why it matters
Traders use moving averages to read trend direction and as reference levels; a price above its 200-day average is often called an uptrend, below it a downtrend. The pitfall is that moving averages lag — they confirm trends after they start and can give false signals in choppy, sideways markets.
How it's calculated
A simple moving average sums the closing prices over the chosen number of days and divides by that count; it updates each day by dropping the oldest price and adding the newest.
How Quintarthai uses it
Trend metrics including the 50- and 200-day averages are available across the screener and company pages; explore them on a stock's deep-analysis page.
FAQ
What is a golden cross?
It's when the 50-day moving average rises above the 200-day average, which some traders read as a bullish trend signal; the reverse is a death cross.
Is a simple moving average better than an exponential one?
Neither is strictly better — a simple average weights all days equally, while an exponential one reacts faster to recent prices; the choice depends on the trader's goal.
Check your understanding
A trader complains that a 200-day moving average gave a 'sell' signal only after the price had already dropped substantially. What does this illustrate about moving averages?
A moving average is built from past closing prices, so the line inherently lags the current price and tends to confirm trend changes after they have already started.