moving average

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Moving average

Used in charts and technical analysis, the average of security or commodity prices constructed in a period as short as a few days or as long as several years and showing trends for the latest interval. As each new variable is included in calculating the average, the last variable of the series is deleted.

Moving Average

The average price of a security over a certain time period, calculated continuously. For instance, one may calculate a moving average by adding prices from the most recent trading days (for example, the last 10 days) and dividing by the number of trading days considered (in this case, 10). A moving average may or may not be weighted. Moving averages help smooth out noise that may be present in a security's price on a given trading day. See also: Simple Moving Average, Exponential Moving Average.

moving average

A series of successive averages of a defined number of variables. As each new variable is included in calculating the average, the last variable of the series is deleted. Suppose a stock's price at the end of each of the last 6 months is $40, $44, $50, $48, $50, and $52. The 4-month moving average in the fifth month is: ($44 + $50 + $48 + $50)/4, or $48. At the end of the sixth month, the 4-month moving average is ($50 + $48 + $50 + $52)/4, or $50. Technical analysts frequently use moving averages to discover trends in stock prices. See also 200-day moving average.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms for Today's Investor by David L. Scott. Copyright © 2003 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.

Moving average.

A moving average of securities prices is an average that is recomputed regularly by adding the most recent price and dropping the oldest one.

For example, if you looked at a 365-day moving average on the morning of June 30, the most recent price would be for June 29, and the oldest one would be for June 30 of the previous year.

The next day, the most recent price would be for June 30, and the oldest one for the previous July 1.

Investors may use the moving average of an individual security over a shorter period, such as 5, 10, or 30 days, to determine a good time to buy or sell that security.

For example, you might decide that a stock that is trading above its 10-day moving average is a good buy or that it's time to sell when a stock is trading below its 10-day moving average. The longer the time span, the less volatile the average will be.

moving average

see SALES FORECASTING.

moving average

see TIME-SERIES ANALYSIS.

Collins Dictionary of Economics, 4th ed. © C. Pass, B. Lowes, L. Davies 2005

References in periodicals archive ?

The IRS will not raise an issue over the application of rolling average on federal tax returns filed before June 25, 2008, that follow this procedure, and it will not pursue the issue further in examinations or appeals of such returns.

IRS oks rolling average

Because today's accounting systems are much more sophisticated, "the weight accorded to the costs incurred in prior years is so slight that the ending inventory cost more nearly approximates first in, first out (FIFO)." In addition, because there is an increasing number of inventory costing systems that use a rolling average cost, a continuation of the ban puts taxpayers at risk.

Rolling average cost inventory method

A system for "smoothing" values by calculating rolling average conductivity values reduces the effects of random "noise." Central reference values are created as an automatic correction mechanism for any drift in absolute and relative values between flow cells or for any bias between individual flow-cells.

Sensortec 4QC transforms quarter conductivity sensing

Data for each patient were evaluated using three different assessment methods: (a) 1-month Hb readings (average Hb levels from each month, with the mean calculated from 15 readings), (b) 3-month rolling average Hb readings (for the initial level, average Hb levels were calculated on the basis of all readings from a 3-month period; subsequent levels were determined by "rolling" the time interval forward by 1 month and recalculating, for a total of 13 measurements), or (c) 6-month rolling average Hb levels (for a total of 10 intervals).

Variability in hemoglobin levels: clinical implications case study of the anemic patient. (Educational Supplement)

The CIMA index uses a 12-month rolling average, based on an index of 100.

Equipment shipments show mid-year rise

Overall, using the three month rolling average of sales activity, the market declined 2.7%.

Semiconductor Sales Up Year on Year, Flat Sequentially

As with operating expenditure, the allowance for spending on renewal in the automatic price-setting formula should be based on the rolling average of the previous five years.

Regulating utilities: have we got the formula right?

Since 1976, annual GDP growth per capita (expressed as a 20-year rolling average) has steadily declined, to 1.5 percent from 2.5 percent.

End corporate welfare now!

CIMA's Construction Equipment Shipments Index, released quarterly and based on actual manufacturer data, outlines monthly percentage changes, as well as a 12-month rolling average, based on an index of 100, to give a more consistent picture of this seasonal industry.

Construction industry still growing: CIMA

FOOTFALL in Wales fell by 0.5% last month - a lower fall than September's 1.9% and below the three-month rolling average of 0.8% according to the latest WRC Springboard figures.

Footfall in Wales shows mixed results for October

These distributions are being made at the annual rate of 7% of the rolling average of the prior four calendar quarter-end net asset values (NAVs), with the fourth quarter distribution being the greater of 1.75% of the rolling average or the minimum distribution required by IRS regulations.