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  • Table of Contents
    • Overview
      • Why Analyze Securities?
      • Technical Analysis
      • Fundamental Analysis
      • Random Walk vs. Non-Random Walk
      • Asset Allocation and Diversification
      • John Murphy's 10 Laws of Technical Trading
      • John Murphy's "Charting Made Easy" eBook
      • Technical Analysis 101
        • TA 101 – Part 1
        • TA 101 – Part 2
        • TA 101 – Part 3
        • TA 101 – Part 4
        • TA 101 – Part 5
        • TA 101 – Part 6
        • TA 101 – Part 7
        • TA 101 – Part 8
        • TA 101 – Part 9
        • TA 101 – Part 10
        • TA 101 – Part 11
        • TA 101 – Part 12
        • TA 101 – Part 13
        • TA 101 – Part 14
        • TA 101 – Part 15
        • TA 101 – Part 16
        • TA 101 – Part 17
      • Irrational Exuberance
      • Cognitive Biases
      • Arthur Hill on Goals, Style and Strategy
      • Arthur Hill on Moving Average Crossovers
      • Multicollinearity
      • "The Trader's Journal" by Gatis Roze
        • Stage 1: Money Management
        • Stage 2: Business of Investing
        • Stage 3: The Investor Self
        • Stage 4: Market Analysis
        • Stage 5: Routines
        • Stage 6: Stalking Your Trade
        • Stage 7: Buying
        • Stage 8: Monitoring Your Investments
        • Stage 9: Selling
        • Stage 10: Re-Examine, Refine, Re-Enhance
        • Additional Reading
      • Bob Farrell's 10 Rules
      • Richard Rhodes' Trading Rules
      • Donchian Trading Guidelines
      • Why and How To Use Correlation
    • Chart Analysis
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      • Support & Resistance
      • Trend Lines
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      • Introduction to Chart Patterns
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        • Falling Wedge
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        • Flag, Pennant
        • Symmetrical Triangle
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        • Measured Move—Bullish
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        • Cup With Handle
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        • Kagi Charts
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        • Three Line Break Charts
        • MarketCarpets
        • Relative Rotation Graphs (RRG Charts)
        • Seasonality Charts
        • Yield Curve
      • Candlestick Charts
        • Introduction to Candlesticks
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        • Candlestick Bullish Reversal Patterns
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        • Candlestick Pattern Dictionary
      • Point and Figure Charts
        • Point and Figure Basics
          • Introduction to Point & Figure Charts
          • Point & Figure Scaling and Timeframes
          • P&F Trend Lines
        • Classic Patterns
          • P&F Bullish Breakouts
          • P&F Bearish Breakdowns
          • P&F Signal Reversed
          • P&F Catapults
          • P&F Triangles
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        • P&F Price Objectives
          • P&F Price Objectives: Breakout and Reversal Method
          • P&F Price Objectives: Horizontal Counts
          • P&F Price Objectives: Vertical Counts
        • Point & Figure Indicators
        • P&F Scans and Alerts
          • P&F Pattern Alerts
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    • Technical Indicators & Overlays
      • Introduction to Technical Indicators and Oscillators
      • Technical Indicators
        • Accumulation/Distribution Line
        • Alligator Indicator
        • Aroon
        • Aroon Oscillator
        • ATR Bands
        • ATR Trailing Stops
        • Average Directional Index (ADX)
        • Average True Range (ATR) and Average True Range Percent (ATRP)
        • Balance of Power (BOP)
        • Bollinger BandWidth
        • %B Indicator
        • Chaikin Money Flow (CMF)
        • Chaikin Oscillator
        • Chande Trend Meter (CTM)
        • CMB Composite Index
        • Commodity Channel Index (CCI)
        • ConnorsRSI
        • Coppock Curve
        • Correlation Coefficient
        • DecisionPoint Price Momentum Oscillator (PMO)
        • Detrended Price Oscillator (DPO)
        • Distance From Highs
        • Distance From Lows
        • Distance To Highs
        • Distance To Lows
        • Distance From Moving Average
        • Ease of Movement (EMV)
        • Force Index
        • Gopalakrishnan Range Index
        • High Low Bands
        • High Minus Low
        • Highest High Value
        • Linear Regression R2
        • Lowest Low Value
        • Mass Index
        • MACD (Moving Average Convergence/Divergence) Oscillator
        • MACD-Histogram
        • MACD-V
        • MACD-V Histogram
        • Median Price
        • Money Flow Index (MFI)
        • Negative Volume Index (NVI)
        • On Balance Volume (OBV)
        • Percentage Price Oscillator (PPO)
        • Percentage Volume Oscillator (PVO)
        • Performance Spread
        • Price Relative/Relative Strength
        • Pring's Know Sure Thing (KST)
        • Pring's Special K
        • Rate of Change (ROC)
        • Relative Strength Index (RSI)
        • Relative Volume (RVOL)
        • RRG Relative Strength
        • StockCharts Technical Rank
        • Slope
        • Standard Deviation (Volatility)
        • Stochastic Oscillator (Fast, Slow, and Full)
        • StochRSI
        • Traffic Light
        • TRIX
        • True Range
        • True Strength Index
        • TTM Squeeze
        • Typical Price
        • Ulcer Index
        • Ultimate Oscillator
        • Vortex Indicator
        • Weighted Close
        • Williams %R
      • Technical Overlays
        • Anchored VWAP
        • Bollinger Bands
        • Chandelier Exit
        • Double Exponential Moving Average (DEMA)
        • Hull Moving Average (HMA)
        • Ichimoku Cloud
        • Kaufman's Adaptive Moving Average (KAMA)
        • Keltner Channels
        • Linear Regression Forecast
        • Linear Regression Intercept
        • Moving Averages—Simple and Exponential
        • Moving Average Ribbon
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        • Parabolic SAR
        • Pivot Points
        • Price Channels
        • Triple Exponential Moving Average (TEMA)
        • Volume-by-Price
        • Volume-Weighted Average Price (VWAP)
        • ZigZag
    • Market Indicators
      • Introduction to Market Indicators
        • Market Indicator Dictionary
      • Advance-Decline Line
      • Advance-Decline Percent
      • Advance-Decline Volume Line
      • Advance-Decline Volume Percent
      • Arms Index (TRIN)
      • Bullish Percent Index (BPI)
      • DecisionPoint Intermediate-Term Breadth Momentum Oscillator (ITBM)
      • DecisionPoint Intermediate-Term Volume Momentum Oscillator (ITVM)
      • DecisionPoint Swenlin Trading Oscillator (STO)
      • High-Low Index
      • High-Low Percent
      • McClellan Oscillator
      • McClellan Summation Index
      • Net New 52-Week Highs
      • Percent Above Moving Average
      • Pring's Bottom Fisher
      • Pring's Diffusion Indicators
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    • Market Analysis
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      • Intermarket Analysis
      • The DecisionPoint Chart Gallery
      • DecisionPoint Rydex Asset Analysis
      • Wyckoff Analysis Articles
        • Wyckoff Market Analysis
        • Wyckoff Stock Analysis
        • The Wyckoff Method: A Tutorial
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        • Introduction to Elliott Wave Theory
        • Identifying Elliott Wave Patterns
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    • Trading Strategies & Models
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      • Trading Strategies
        • Bollinger Band Squeeze
        • CCI Correction
        • CVR3 VIX Market Timing
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        • Gap Trading Strategies
        • Harmonic Patterns
        • Hindenburg Omen
        • Ichimoku Cloud Trading Strategies
        • The 'Last' Stochastic Technique
        • MACD Zero-Line Crosses With Swing Points
        • Moving Average Trading Strategies
          • Finding Support and Resistance in Moving Averages
          • Guppy Multiple Moving Average: An MA Ribbon Designed to Tip the Market’s Hand
          • How To Trade Price-to-Moving Average Crossovers
          • Trading the Bounce: Finding Support and Resistance in Moving Averages
          • Trading the Death Cross
          • Trading Using the Golden Cross
          • Using the 5-8-13 EMA Crossover for Short-Term Trades
        • Moving Momentum
        • Narrow Range Day NR7
        • Percent Above 50-day SMA
        • Percent B Money Flow
        • The Pre-Holiday Effect
        • RSI(2)
        • Six-Month Cycle MACD
        • Slope Performance Trend
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On this page
  • Introduction
  • Hull Moving Average Calculation
  • How do these calculations reduce lag?
  • Interpreting the Hull Moving Average
  • Conclusion
  • Charting with the Hull Moving Average (HMA)
  • Scanning for Hull Moving Average
  • Overall Uptrend with Price Crossing Above Hull MA
  • Overall Downtrend with Price Crossing Below Hull MA

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  1. Table of Contents
  2. Technical Indicators & Overlays
  3. Technical Overlays

Hull Moving Average (HMA)

A responsive moving average calculation that weights recent prices more heavily than those earlier in the period.

PreviousDouble Exponential Moving Average (DEMA)NextIchimoku Cloud

Last updated 11 months ago

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Introduction

The Hull Moving Average (HMA) attempts to minimize the lag of a traditional moving average while retaining the smoothness of the moving average line. Developed by Alan Hull in 2005, this indicator makes use of weighted moving averages to prioritize more recent values and greatly reduce lag. The resulting average is more responsive and well-suited for identifying entry points.

Notice in the example below that the HMA line (in red) turns more quickly and decisively than the corresponding SMA (in blue).

Hull Moving Average Calculation

The formula for the Hull Moving Average uses two different weighted moving averages (WMAs) of price, plus a third WMA to smooth the raw moving average. There are three parts to the calculation. In the formulas listed below, “n” indicates the number of periods specified by the chartist.

First, calculate two WMAs: one with the specified number of periods and one with half the specified number of periods.

WMA1 = WMA(n/2) of price
WMA2 = WMA(n) of price

Second, calculate the raw (non-smoothed) Hull Moving Average.

Raw HMA = (2 * WMA1) - WMA2

Third, smooth the raw HMA with another WMA, this one with the square root of the specified number of periods.

HMA = WMA(sqrt(n)) of Raw HMA

Of course, when you divide a whole number by two or calculate its square root, you don't always end up with a whole number as a result. In that case, we round the result to the nearest whole number, so we can use that as the number of periods when calculating weighted moving averages.

For example, when calculating an 11-day HMA, we end up with non-whole numbers for two of our WMAs. For calculating the n/2 WMA, 11/2 is 5.5, so we would round that up to 6 for the WMA calculation. For the sqrt(n) WMA, the square root of 11 is 3.317, so we would round that down to 3 for the number of WMA periods in the final smoothing calculation.

How do these calculations reduce lag?

  • Weighted moving averages inherently reduce lag by placing additional weight on more recent values.

  • Lag is further reduced by offsetting one WMA with another WMA that covers only the most recent half of the specified timeframe, putting even more focus on recent values.

  • The final smoothing uses another WMA with even fewer periods (the square root of the number of periods in the specified timeframe), further weighting towards the most recent data.

The end result is a smooth moving average line that stays very close to the price bars.

Interpreting the Hull Moving Average

The Hull Moving Average can be interpreted in a similar way to traditional moving averages, but it responds more quickly. Like other moving averages, it can be used to confirm a trend or spot a change in the trend.

HMAs with shorter periods are often used to identify entry points. When the overall trend is up and the HMA turns up, this is a signal to buy long. Conversely, when the overall trend is down and the HMA turns down, this is a signal to buy short.

Although crossover signals (e.g. where a shorter-term MA crosses a longer-term MA) are popular with many types of moving averages, HMA creator Alan Hull does not recommend using crossovers with HMAs, because that technique depends on looking at differences in lag between the two moving averages, and the lag has already been greatly reduced in Hull Moving Averages. Instead, he recommends looking at turning points to identify entries and exits, as outlined above.

In addition, HMAs with longer periods (e.g. 200-period HMA) can be used to identify the current overall trend. If the HMA is rising, the overall trend is up; if the HMA is falling, the overall trend is down.

Conclusion

The Hull Moving Average (HMA) overlay is designed to minimize the lag present in traditional moving averages. Short-term traders can look for turning points in the average to identify entry/exit points. Longer-term HMAs can be used to identify or confirm the overall trend. As with all technical indicators, traders should use the HMA in conjunction with other indicators and analysis techniques.


Charting with the Hull Moving Average (HMA)

Once the plug-in is installed, the HMA overlay can be added from the Chart Settings panel for your StockChartsACP chart. HMA can be overlaid on the security's price plot or on an indicator panel.

By default, the moving average is calculated with 20 periods, but the number of periods can be adjusted to meet your technical analysis needs.

Scanning for Hull Moving Average

Overall Uptrend with Price Crossing Above Hull MA

This scan starts with stocks that average 100,000 shares daily volume and have an average closing price above 10. An uptrend is present when the 50-day Hull MA is above average. A buy signal materializes when price moves above the shorter-term 20-day Hull MA.

[type = stock] AND [country = US]
AND [Daily SMA(20,Daily Volume) > 100000]
AND [Daily SMA(60,Daily Close) > 10]

AND [HullMA(50,Close) >  Daily SMA(50,HullMA(50,Close))]
AND [Daily Close crosses HullMA(20,Close)]

Overall Downtrend with Price Crossing Below Hull MA

This scan starts with stocks that average 100,000 shares daily volume and have an average closing price above 10. A downtrend is present when the 50-day Hull MA is below average. A sell signal materializes when price moves below the shorter-term 20-day Hull MA.

[type = stock] AND [country = US]
AND [Daily SMA(20,Daily Volume) > 100000]
AND [Daily SMA(60,Daily Close) > 10]

AND [HullMA(50,Close) <  Daily SMA(50,HullMA(50,Close))]
AND [HullMA(20,Close) crosses Daily Close]

The HMA overlay can be charted on StockChartsACP after installing our free Advanced Indicator Pack. Please see our article in the Support Center for more information on installing this plug-in.

StockCharts members can screen for stocks based on Hull MA values. Below are some example scans that can be used for Hull MA-based signals. Simply copy the scan text and paste it into the Scan Criteria box in the .

Members can also set up alerts to notify them when a Hull MA-based signal is triggered for a stock. Alerts use the same syntax as scans, so the sample scans below can be used as a starting point for setting up alerts as well. Simply copy the scan text and paste it into the Alert Criteria box in the .

Learn More. For more details on the syntax to use for Hull MA scans, please see our in the Support Center.

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