How this works
What is the SMA200?
The 200-day Simple Moving Average is the average closing price over the last 200 trading days (roughly 10 months). It's the most-watched long-term trend filter in markets. Institutional desks, hedge funds, and retail traders all reference it because price crossings tend to coincide with sustained shifts in trend.
What does the signal mean?
- Close above SMA200 → "uptrend" status. The most basic long-signal in trend-following.
- Close below SMA200 → "downtrend" status. Many systems flatten positions here.
Why does it matter?
A simple "long when above SMA200, flat when below" rule on major indices and leveraged ETFs historically reduces maximum drawdowns by 30-60 percentage points versus buy-and-hold, with similar long-term return. The big benefit isn't headline performance. It's that you sidestep most of the worst drawdowns, which is what determines whether you actually stay invested through a full cycle.
How is the data calculated?
Each ticker's daily closing price for the past ~14 months is pulled from public end-of-day data sources. We compute the 200-day simple moving average of closes and compare today's close to it. Data is refreshed periodically; the "As of" date on each ticker page shows the timestamp of the most recent close used.
What it can't do
The SMA200 is one number. It can't tell you:
- Whether a stock is about to cross its SMA200 (early-warning signals require more sophisticated tools)
- Whether the company has fundamental problems
- Whether there's an upcoming catalyst (earnings, FDA, macro)
- How much risk is appropriate for your situation
This site is a starting point, not a complete trading system.
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Prismatic Enterprises. Also building UserDesk and other tools.