SMA (Simple Moving Average)
The simple moving average is the unweighted mean of a stock's closing prices over a chosen number of sessions. It smooths daily noise into one line showing where price has been trading.
The SMA answers one question with no cleverness in it. What has the average close been over the last N sessions? Every bar in the window counts equally, so a 50-day SMA is the sum of fifty closes divided by fifty. That equal weighting is transparent and hard to misread. It also means a price shock from seven weeks ago moves today's 50-day line exactly as much as yesterday's close does.
On end-of-day NSE data the standard periods carry the standard meanings. The 20-day tracks the swing trend, the 50-day the intermediate one. The 200-day is the line many institutional mandates treat as the boundary between a holding and a problem, which is why so much screening starts there. Price above a rising 200-day is a health check. The 50 crossing the 200 marks a change of regime, and the averages stacked in order is the plainest definition of a trend in good shape.
The failure mode is lag, and it is not small. An average of the last 200 closes is by construction a statement about the past. By the time price crosses it, much of the move has happened. In a sideways market price saws back and forth across every SMA and generates crosses that mean nothing. The SMA locates a trend well enough. Timing an entry into one is a different job and it does that badly.
Against its siblings, the SMA is the reference everything else is measured from. The EMA answers the same question with more weight on recent bars. The WMA, HMA and TEMA each trade some smoothness for less lag. In Sift the SMA is also the only indicator that accepts any period: sma(37) works, where the others are limited to their precomputed ones.
In Sift
Written as sma(20) — any period accepted; 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 precomputed. A working scan — stocks with price above stacked 20, 50 and 200-day averages, a trend in good order:
where close > sma(20) > sma(50) > sma(200)1
of the 500 most-traded NSE stocks match today, as of 25 Sept 2026
Scans that use it
Prebuilt scans in the library whose query reads this value — each with a hit-rate replay over the last 250 sessions.
Volume breakout
Twice the 20-day average volume with a gain over 3%. Something changed today.
Crossing above the Ichimoku base
Price reclaiming the Kijun-sen while it still holds its 50-day average.
Aroon uptrend
Aroon-up over 70 and Aroon-down under 30: a high made recently, no low made recently, price above the 50-day.
OBV at a six-month high
On-balance volume at its highest in twenty-six weeks while price holds the 50-day average. Accumulation showing up before price does.
Three volume spikes this month
At least three sessions of twice-normal volume inside the last twenty, in a stock above its 50-day average. One news day does not clear that bar.
RSI oversold turning up
RSI back above 30 within the last three sessions, in a stock still holding its 200-day average.
RSI overbought
RSI over 70 in a stock still above its 50-day average. Stretched, and worth knowing either way.
Golden cross
The 50-day average crossing up through the 200-day.
Death cross
The 50-day average crossing down through the 200-day.
Bounce off the 200-day
Yesterday closed below the 200-day average, today closed back above it.
Williams %R oversold
Williams %R below -80 while the 200-day average still holds. A staple of oversold screening.
Money flow oversold
Money Flow Index under 20 in a stock above its 200-day average. It is RSI with volume in it.
Heikin-Ashi turns green
The first green Heikin-Ashi candle after a red one, above the 50-day average and on heavier volume.
RSI reclaiming 50
RSI crossing back above its midline in a stock that never lost its long-term trend.
CCI oversold turn
CCI back above −100 within the last two sessions, in a stock still above its 200-day.
Stochastic RSI oversold
Stochastic RSI under 20 in a stock above its 200-day average. The twitchiest oversold reading available.
Force index turning positive
Elder's force index crossing above zero in a stock above its 50-day average.
9/21 EMA crossover
The 9-day EMA crossing above the 21 within the last two sessions, in a stock still above its 200-day. A golden cross on a swing trader's clock.
Broke below the 200-day average
Crossed under the 200-day moving average within the last three sessions. Everybody watches that line.
Recovering from a three-year low
Up more than 50% off the three-year low, back above the 200-day average, with a three-month return over 10%.
Candle between the 20 and 50
The whole candle body sits under the 20-day average and above the 50-day, with the 50 above the 200. A pullback that has broken nothing.
Fifteen sessions under the 20-day
Fifteen or more unbroken closes below the 20-day average, RSI under 35. A slump old enough to be exhausted.
Stacked moving averages
Price above the 20, which is above the 50, which is above the 200. A trend in good order.
Strong but not overbought
Up more than 20% in three months with RSI between 45 and 65, above the 50-day average. Room to run without chasing.
Ten sessions above the 20-day
Ten straight closes above the 20-day average with ADX over 25. Two weeks without a wobble.
Strong directional trend
ADX above 30, +DI over −DI, the averages stacked, RSI still under 70.
Rate of change leaders
Rate of change above 10 with RSI still under 70, price above the 50-day average.
Three-month leaders
Up more than 30% in a quarter and still above the 50-day average, biggest gain first.
Pullback in an uptrend
RSI under 40 in a stock still above its 200-day average.
Above a rising 200-day average
The plain health check: price above the 200-day, and the 200-day itself climbing.
MACD zero-line cross
The MACD line crossing above zero, which is the 12-day EMA overtaking the 26-day.
Two-year doublers
Up more than 100% over two years and still above the 50-day average.
Three-year laggards turning up
Below where they were three years ago, but back above the 200-day average. The names the bull market has not reached.
Seven up days in ten
Seven of the last ten sessions closed above their open, in a stock above its 50-day with RSI under 70.
Above the 20-day most of the month
Closed above the 20-day average on 17 of the last 20 sessions, ADX over 20. The forgiving version of a persistence scan.
Quiet accumulation
Delivery over 60% on ordinary volume, above the 50-day average and up over the month. Accumulation without a headline.
Sustained delivery
Delivery above 55% for five sessions running, in a stock holding its 20-day average.
Money flow accumulation
Chaikin Money Flow above 0.15, delivery over 55%, price above the 50-day average: three separate ways of asking whether the buying is real, with all three required to agree.
Delivery percentage rising
Delivery up three sessions running, above the 20-day.
OBV rising streak
Five straight sessions of rising on-balance volume, price above the 20-day average.
Delivery above its own norm
Delivery above its own 20-day average on eight of the last ten sessions, in a stock above its 50-day. Conviction measured against the stock's own habit.
Bollinger squeeze
Bollinger width under 0.08 in a stock above its 200-day average. Compressed ranges tend to resolve.
Up 15% in a month
A decisive one-month advance, still trading above its 50-day.
Narrow range day
A day's range under half the stock's own ATR, above the 50-day average.
NR7: narrowest range in seven
Today's high-low span is the tightest of the last seven sessions.
Volatility contraction near highs
Within 5% of the 52-week high, Bollinger width under 0.08, above the 200-day. The VCP shape written as a query.
Bullish engulfing at support
An engulfing candle right on the 50-day.
Three white soldiers
Three strong up-closes above the 50-day.
Doji on heavy volume
An indecision candle on above-average volume while the trend still holds.
Inside bar in an uptrend
A contracted range sitting inside yesterday's, with the 50-day average above the 200-day, so the pause is happening inside a trend that can turn it into a spring.
Doji cluster
Three or more dojis inside the last ten sessions, in a stock above its 200-day average. An uptrend that has stopped deciding.
Futures at a premium
The front-month future paying more than half a percent over cash, in a stock above its 50-day average.
Put writers underneath
Put-call open interest ratio above 0.8 in a stock above its 50-day. Put writers are paid to defend the strikes below.
Promoters buying
Promoter stake up more than half a percentage point last quarter, in a stock above its 200-day average.
High promoter holding in an uptrend
Promoters holding over 70% with the price above its 200-day average. A tight float and aligned owners.
Low PE in an uptrend
Under fifteen times trailing earnings and above the 200-day average. Cheap, and no longer ignored.
IT stocks in an uptrend
Information Technology names above their 200-day average with RSI over 55.
Commodity stocks above the 200-day
The Commodities macro-sector, filtered to stocks above their 200-day average. A cycle scan in one line.
Dividend yield in an uptrend
Yielding over 3% and trading above the 200-day average. High yields usually come from falling prices; these prices are rising.
Common questions
Which SMA period is best for the daily chart?
None of them. The 20-day tracks the swing trend, the 50-day the intermediate trend, the 200-day the long-term regime, and each is a convention with a different job. Shorter periods hug price and whipsaw more; longer ones lag more. Test the period against your own holding horizon. Every scan here can be replayed against past sessions for a hit-rate sketch, which is close-to-close, ignores costs and slippage, and runs on the universe as of today.
What does it mean when price crosses above the 200-day SMA?
The current price has moved above the average close of the last 200 sessions, roughly a trading year. Traders read it as a change of long-term regime, partly because so many funds and systems watch the same line that the level defends itself. It is slow and confirming. By the time it fires, the turn is usually weeks old.
Is the SMA better than the EMA?
Neither is better. They weight time differently: the SMA treats all bars in the window equally, so it is smoother and slower, while the EMA weights recent bars more and therefore turns earlier and whipsaws more. For a long regime filter like the 200-day the difference is small. For short-period signals it is material, and testable.