Triple exponential moving average
Extends DEMA's lag-cancelling trick with a third layer of EMA smoothing, tracking price even more tightly.
What the numbers mean
Same lookback, one more layer: three EMAs combined so that even more of the lag is cancelled. At the same period setting a TEMA tracks price more tightly than DEMA, which tracks more tightly than EMA.
- 21 — standard setting; hugs price more tightly than DEMA at the same length
- 9 — very fast, essentially a price tracker
- 55 — a smoother trend line that still turns early
How it is used
Used by short-term traders who want a long lookback's stability with close-to-price response, often as the fast line against a conventional EMA.
- Trend direction from slope, read bar by bar
- As the trigger line in a fast/slow pair with a plain EMA
How it relates to everything else
TEMA is the far end of the lag-reduction family. It reacts fastest and therefore lies most often, so it is normally paired with something deliberately slow — a 50 or 200 SMA for regime, or ADX for whether a trend exists at all.
- Fastest of the common averages at any given period
- TEMA above a 50 SMA → short-term strength inside a longer trend
- Not to be confused with TRIX, which is built from triple smoothing but plots a rate of change
What to watch for
The tightest-tracking averages are the noisiest. TEMA can flip direction on a single volatile bar, so it is usually paired with something slower for confirmation.