The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD), introduced by Gerald Appel in the 1970s, plots the difference between a fast and a slow EMA, then overlays an EMA of that difference as the signal line. The bar histogram shows the gap between MACD and signal.
The canonical parameters are 12 / 26 / 9: a 12-period fast EMA, a 26-period slow EMA, and a 9-period signal EMA on the difference. Trading reads: MACD crossing above signal = bullish, MACD crossing below signal = bearish, histogram expansion = strengthening trend.
MACD has no upper or lower bound, so it cannot be used for overbought/oversold reads the way RSI can. It is a trend-confirmation tool first, and a divergence tool second.
Formula
MACD = EMA(12) − EMA(26) Signal = EMA(9, MACD) Histogram = MACD − Signal
Example
EMA(12) = 105, EMA(26) = 103. MACD = 2. Signal = 1.5. Histogram = 0.5 — bullish, momentum expanding.
How Noon Barbari uses MACD
Every concept here is implemented in the platform. Open the relevant docs or tool to see it in action.
See the indicators reference →Related terms
- Indicators
Exponential moving average (EMA)
Weighted moving average that gives recent bars exponentially more weight.
- Indicators
Relative strength index (RSI)
Momentum oscillator that ranges 0–100 based on the ratio of gains to losses.
- Indicators
Moving average
A rolling average of price over a fixed window, used to smooth noise.
- Market structure
Trend
A persistent directional drift in price — up, down, or sideways.