Hull moving average
Built from weighted moving averages of different lengths combined to cut lag while staying smooth, aiming to solve the classic smoothness-vs-lag tradeoff.
What the numbers mean
The period sets the lookback, but the construction — two weighted averages of different lengths combined, then smoothed by the square root of the period — is designed to cut lag while staying smooth. A 16-period HMA turns roughly as fast as a much shorter EMA without the jitter.
- 9 — very fast; popular for intraday trend colouring
- 16 — the setting Alan Hull originally proposed
- 21 or 55 — swing-trading versions that still turn quickly
How it is used
Popular as a trend-direction line where colour changes with slope: traders treat a flip in slope as the trend signal rather than a price crossover.
- A change in slope, not a price crossover, is the signal most HMA users watch
- Many platforms colour the line by slope, which makes the turn the entire message
How it relates to everything else
The HMA is built from two weighted averages — one of the full period and one of half of it — with the difference smoothed by the square root of the period. That construction puts it close to TEMA for speed but with a noticeably smoother line, so it is often used as the fast line against a 50 or 200 SMA that supplies the regime.
- Comparable in speed to TEMA, smoother in appearance
- HMA slope flipping while price stays above the 200 SMA → a pullback, not a reversal
- Its speed comes partly from extrapolation, so it can turn on a move that does not follow through
What to watch for
It achieves speed partly by extrapolating recent momentum, so it can overshoot at reversals and paint a turn that price does not follow through on.