The Moving Average Convergence/Divergence oscillator (MACD) turns two trend-following indicators, moving averages, into a momentum oscillator by subtracting the longer moving average from the shorter moving average. Two functions are offered. The first is the MACD using the common defaults of 26 and 12 bars. The second allows you to specify the EMA parameters. A third parameter for a signal line changes the calculation to the difference with the signal line when set to 2 or more.

MACD(offset [, series]): the difference between a short EMA (12 bars) and a long EMA (26 bars). The MACD fluctuates above and below the zero line as the moving averages converge, cross and diverge.

MACDD(short,long [,period,offset,series]): when period is 2 or greater it returns the difference between the MACD and it's EMA (the signal line), otherwise when set to 1 (the default) it returns MACD. With this function you can specify your own long and short parameters, and the signal EMA period. Typical values are 12, 26 and 9.

Parameters

short: the period of the short EMA
long: the period of the long EMA
period: the period of the signal line EMA. Set this to 1 to disable it and return MACD
offset: the offset in bars; 0 is for latest values

NOTE: MACD(0) is equivalent to MACDD(12,26,1,0)

Examples

To screen for stocks that have a MACDD above 0 but were below 0 a week ago (indicating a possible recent crossover with the signal line) enter:

MACDD(12,26,9) > 0 and MACDD(12,26,9,5) < 0

Series Parameter

By default, technical functions access the time series of the instrument in context. You can specify a different time-series in several ways like: using GetSeries(), specifying a StockID directly, or using a time series id. See the examples below.

Examples

Get the latest close price using Close(0, series) using different methods for different time series.

Using the ID directly
Using the StockID for SPY:USA*	Close(0, 24262)
For the Industry series of the stock being evaluated	Close(0,#Industry)
Using a Time Series Id	Close(0,$RUI)
For the benchmark	Close(0, #Bench)
Using GetSeries
Using a fully qualified ticker	Close(0, GetSeries("SPY:USA"))
When USA is your default	Close(0, GetSeries("SPY"))
See GetSeries() for more examples like for aggregate series
* StockIDs never change

 

Predefined Series IDs

These are special series ids. Additional Series Ids can be found in the reference under: MISC→TIME SERIES IDs

Id	Description	Freq	OHLC
Industry and Sector
#Sector	Stock's Sector	Daily	C
#SubSector	Stock's SubSector	Daily	C
#Industry	Stock's Industry	Daily	C
#SubIndustry	Stock's SubIndustry	Daily	C
Miscellaneous
#Bench	Benchmark closing prices	Daily	C
#TNX	10Y Treasury Note	Daily	OHLC
FED Model series (chart)
#SPRP	SP500 Risk Premium	Weekly	C
#SPEPSCY	SP500 EPS CurrentY	Weekly	C
#SPEPSNY	SP500 EPS NextY	Weekly	C
#SPEPSCNY	SP500 EPS Blend Y	Weekly	C
#SPEPSQ	SP500 EPS Blend Q	Weekly	C
#SPEPSTTM	SP500 EPS Trailing 12 months	Weekly	C
#SPYield	SP500 Yield	Weekly	C

 

Special Series Ids for Moving Averages & Highest/Lowest functions

Id	Description	Context
#Open	Open prices	Stock & ETF
#High	High prices	Stock & ETF
#Low	Low prices	Stock & ETF
#Vol	Volumes	Stock & ETF