Technicals

Golden Cross

A golden cross is a widely watched signal that the intermediate trend has risen through the long-term trend.

When the 50-day average crosses up through the 200-day, technicians call it a golden cross. It means the last few months of prices have improved enough to lift the shorter average over the longer one. It is a lagging confirmation of strength that already happened. Studies of the signal are mixed once you account for the fact that it fires after a rally.

Treat it as a description: the trend has turned up on those two windows. It is not a valuation. A golden cross on an expensive, deteriorating business is still an expensive, deteriorating business. A golden cross on a company whose earnings have turned is a nicer coincidence. Stocklytics lists the idea among screeners because people search for it; the work is still the fundamentals.

Formula

A golden cross is the 50-day moving average crossing above the 200-day moving average.

Live example

Apple Inc. (AAPL) last printed at $345.65 with a market cap of $5.04T. Apply the formula on this page to that live price. Where the quote is missing an input, the stock page's financials are the next place to read it.

Related

Death Cross · Moving Averages · MACD

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Questions