Moving Average Crossover Strategy
Trade MA crossovers: the classic 50/200 golden cross, faster EMA combos for intraday, and when they fail.
The crossover premise
When a faster MA crosses above a slower MA, short-term momentum has overtaken long-term — bullish signal. When it crosses below, bearish. The famous "golden cross" is 50-day MA above 200-day MA. Intraday traders use 9/20 EMAs or 8/21 EMAs on 5m charts for the same logic at a smaller scale.
Why most traders lose with MA crosses
Moving averages are lagging indicators. By the time the crossover prints, the move is often already half done. Traders chase, take late entries, get chopped on whipsaws in sideways markets. The fix: only take MA crosses in markets already in trending regimes (use ADX > 20 as a filter, or simply — "is price trending?" as a visual check).
Combining with price action
The MA cross alone isn't enough. Add: "price is above both MAs" (trend confirmation), "the cross happens on volume" (momentum confirmation), "no major resistance within 1.5x ATR above" (room to run). Those three filters cut the signal count roughly in half but significantly improve win rate.