What a moving average is
A simple moving average (SMA) is just the average closing price over a window of days, recalculated each day so it "moves." It filters out daily noise to reveal the underlying trend.
The two that matter most
- 50-day SMA — the medium-term trend; often acts as dynamic support/resistance.
- 200-day SMA — the long-term trend (see our 200-day page).
- Their crossover defines the golden cross and death cross.
How we use it
Both averages appear on every ticker page and in the chart. The price-vs-50-vs-200 stack is the first thing we read to classify a stock's trend.