A cross above zero confirms a trend, and the bars measure how fast it is picking up.
The short answer
- What is the moving average convergence divergence indicator (MACD)?
- MACD: EMA12 − EMA26 vs a EMA9 signal line, with bars showing the gap between them.
- When does MACD get it wrong?
- It lags like its components, and its divergence sometimes leads a reversal and sometimes lies. See its current reading on the platform's symbols, at the latest daily close, in the 'Reading now' table on this page. See its reading now →
Reading now
| Ticker | Value | Five sessions ago | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPY | 3.61 | 2.30 | Above the signal line · above zero |
| QQQ | 7.95 | 10.02 | Below the signal line · above zero |
| IWM | −3.45 | −3.41 | Above the signal line · below zero |
| DIA | −2.61 | −4.33 | Above the signal line · below zero |
A description of where the number sits against its thresholds. It is not an entry or exit signal.
Indicator limit
It lags like its components, and its divergence sometimes leads a reversal and sometimes lies.
Read it with
Average trend indicator: its crossovers in a market with no trend are noise, and ADX says when to trust them.
Answers: Does the market have a trend? Is momentum shifting?
What it actually does
Moving average convergence divergence turns the gap between two exponential averages into a stand-alone momentum indicator: a difference line (fast minus slow), a signal line that is an exponential average of that difference, and bars that measure the distance between them. It reads the change in momentum, not the price level.
How it is read in practice
Three signals, ranked by strength. The bars are the fastest: shrinking bars show momentum fading before any crossover. The line crossover is the best known and slower. The zero-line cross is the slowest and sturdiest: crossing above zero means the fast average is really above the slow one. It confirms, it does not predict.
Divergence: its most valuable feature
When price makes a higher high while the indicator makes a lower high, the last wave rose on weaker momentum than the one before. That is an exhaustion warning that sometimes comes before a reversal. The opposite holds at lows. Divergence warns but does not time: price can keep its direction for weeks after it appears.
Hypothetical example
Price keeps rising but the indicator's bars shrink for four sessions, then cross below zero: momentum ran out before price reversed. Whoever read the bars cut their size, and whoever waited for the crossover entered two sessions late.
Where it errs and why
In a sideways market it oscillates around zero and produces back-to-back crossovers that mean nothing. It is also built from averages that already lag, so its lag is doubled. Do not read it alone, but together with market structure and levels.
Read it with
Read it with trend strength first: its crossovers in a market below the trend threshold are noise because of the regime, not the indicator · with volume to tell a real divergence from chop · and with gamma levels, since fading momentum at a dense wall says more than in open space. Its settings (12/26/9) are a convention, not a law.
Where to see it on the platform
The technical chart shows it below price with a crosshair linked to the same time axis, so you can read the momentum peak against the candle that produced it.
