Golden Cross Pattern Explained With Examples and Charts (2024)

What Is a Golden Cross?

A golden cross is a chart pattern in which a relatively short-term moving average crosses above a long-term moving average. The golden cross is a bullish breakout pattern formed from a crossover involving a security's short-term moving average (such as the 50-day moving average) crossing above its long-term moving average (such as the 200-day moving average) or resistance level.

As long-term indicators carry more weight, the golden cross indicates the possibility of a long-term bull market emerging. High trading volumes generally reinforce the indicator.

Key Takeaways

  • A golden cross is a technical chart pattern indicating the potential for amajor rally.
  • The golden cross appears on a chart when a stock’s short-term moving average crosses above its long-term moving average.
  • The golden cross can be contrasted with a death cross indicating a bearish price movement.

Golden Cross Pattern Explained With Examples and Charts (1)

How Does a Golden Cross Form?

The golden cross is a momentum indicator, which means that prices are continuously increasing—gaining momentum. Traders and investors have changed their outlooks to bullish rather than bearish. The indicator generally has three stages.

The first stage requires that a downtrend eventually bottoms out as buyers overpower sellers. In the second stage, the shorter moving average crosses over the larger moving average to trigger a breakout and confirms a downward trend reversal.

Support is a low price level that the market does not allow. Resistance is a high price level that the market resists. A breakout occurs when the price crosses one of these levels.

The last stage is a continuing uptrend after the crossover. The moving averages act as support levels on pullbacks until they cross back down.

The most commonly used moving averages in the golden cross are the 50-day- and 200-day moving averages. Generally, larger periods tend to form stronger, lasting breakouts. For example, the 50-day moving average crossover up through the 200-day moving average on an index like the S&P 500 is one of the most popular bullish market signals.

Day traders commonly use smaller periods like the 5-day and 15-day moving averages to trade intra-day golden cross breakouts. Some traders might use different periodic increments, like weeks or months, depending on their trading preferences and what they believe works for them.

But when choosing different periods, it's important to understand that the larger the chart time frame, the stronger and more lasting the golden cross breakout tends to be.

Example of a Golden Cross

The image below uses a 50-day and a 200-day moving average. The 50-day moving average trended down over several trading periods, finally reaching a price level the market couldn't support. The 200-day moving average flattened out after slightly trending downward.

Prices gradually increased over time, creating an upward trend in the moving 50-day average. The trend continued, pushing the shorter-period moving average higher than the longer-period moving average. A golden cross formed, confirming a reversal from a downward trend to an upward one.

Notice that the price range of the candlesticks made a significant jump when the downward trend bottomed out and turned into an uptrend. Something likely occurred that changed investor and trader market sentiments at this time. The candle bodies were large (the difference between open and close prices), and more days closed with prices much higher than opening during the first uptick after the 50-day moving average bottomed.

Golden Cross Pattern Explained With Examples and Charts (2)

The Difference Between a Golden Cross and a Death Cross

Agolden crossand adeath crossare opposing indicators. Thegolden cross confirms a long-termbull marketgoing forward, while a death cross signals a long-termbear market. Either crossover is considered more significant when accompanied by high trading volume.

Golden Cross

  • A possible long-term bull market is approaching

  • The short-term moving average crosses from below the long-term moving average

  • The long-term moving average becomes support

Death Cross

  • A possible long-term bear market is approaching

  • The short-term moving average crosses from above the long-term moving average

  • The long-term moving average becomes resistance

Once the crossover occurs, the long-term moving average is considered a majorsupport level(in the case of the golden cross) orresistance level(in the instance of the death cross) for the market from that point forward. Either cross may appear and signal a trend change, but they more frequently occur when a trend change has already occurred.

Limitations of the Golden Cross

All indicators are “lagging,” which means the data used to form the charts has already occurred. This means that no indicator can truly predict the future. Many times, an observed golden cross produces a false signal. Despite its apparent predictive power in forecasting prior large bull markets, golden crosses also regularly fail to manifest. Therefore, other signals and indicators should always be used to confirm a golden cross.

How Do I Identify a Golden Cross on a Chart?

The golden cross occurs when a short-term moving average crosses over a major long-term moving average to the upside and is interpreted by analysts and traders as signaling a definitive upward turn in a market.Some analysts define it as a crossover of the 100-day moving average by the 50-day moving average; others use the 200-day and 50-day moving average. The short-term average trends up faster than the long-term average until they cross.

What Does a Golden Cross Indicate?

A golden cross suggests a long-term bull market going forward. It is the opposite of a death cross, which is a bearing indicator when a long-term moving average crosses under a short-term one.

Are Golden Crosses Reliable Indicators?

As a lagging indicator, a golden cross is identified only after the market has risen, which makes it seem reliable. However, as a result of the lag, it is also difficult to know when the signal is false until after the fact. Traders often use a golden cross to confirm a trend or signal in combination with other indicators.

The Bottom Line

A golden cross is believed to confirm the reversal of a downward trend. The key to using the golden cross correctlywith additional filters and indicatorsis to use profit targets, stop loss, and other risk management tools. Remember to maintain a favorablerisk-to-reward ratio and to timeyour trade rather than just following the cross mindlessly.

Golden Cross Pattern Explained With Examples and Charts (2024)

FAQs

Golden Cross Pattern Explained With Examples and Charts? ›

A golden cross is a technical chart pattern

chart pattern
A chart pattern or price pattern is a pattern within a chart when prices are graphed. In stock and commodity markets trading, chart pattern studies play a large role during technical analysis.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Chart_pattern
indicating the potential for a major rally. The golden cross appears on a chart when a stock's short-term moving average crosses
moving average crosses
In the statistics of time series, and in particular the stock market technical analysis, a moving-average crossover occurs when, on plotting two moving averages each based on different degrees of smoothing, the traces of these moving averages cross. It does not predict future direction but shows trends.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Moving_average_crossover
above its long-term moving average. The golden cross can be contrasted with a death cross indicating a bearish price movement.

What is a golden cross in charting? ›

What is a Golden Cross? A Golden Cross is a basic technical indicator that occurs in the market when a short-term moving average (50-day) of an asset rises above a long-term moving average (200-day). When traders see a Golden Cross occur, they view this chart pattern as indicative of a strong bull market.

How to use golden crossover strategy? ›

Two Time Frames: In the golden crossover strategy, the two moving averages are plotted on different time frames. The shorter-term average is usually calculated over 50 days, while the longer-term average is calculated over 200 days. This combination helps capture both short-term and long-term trends in the market.

What are the different types of golden cross? ›

Not All Golden Crosses Are the Same

They are as follows: Type 1 Crossing, where prices are extended far from the actual crossover price point (and in the direction of the crossover) Type 2 Crossing, where prices retrace the actual price point in which the crossover event took place.

Is the Golden Cross an EMA or SMA? ›

A golden cross isn't just an EMA or SMA. Instead, it is a crossing event comprising two moving averages, with one being an EMA (short-term) and the other being an SMA (long-term). As the EMA or exponential moving average emphasizes current prices, it is better to use the short-term MA as an EMA — like the 50-day EMA.

What is an example of a golden cross? ›

For example, the 50-day moving average crossover up through the 200-day moving average on an index like the S&P 500 is one of the most popular bullish market signals. Day traders commonly use smaller periods like the 5-day and 15-day moving averages to trade intra-day golden cross breakouts.

How to set golden crossover in TradingView? ›

Instructions: Adding the Indicator: Search for "Advanced Golden and Death Crossover Indicator" in the TradingView Indicators & Strategies library and add it to your chart. Customization: Access the indicator settings to adjust the lookback period according to your trading preferences.

How accurate is the Golden Cross? ›

Going back to 1950, it has a 100% accuracy of predicting bear market endings and bull market beginnings. It is triggered only when a convincing golden cross happens after a long bear market.

What is the use of crossover chart? ›

The crossover is a point on the trading chart in which a security's price and a technical indicator line intersect, or when two indicators themselves cross. Crossovers are used to estimate the performance of a financial instrument and to predict coming changes in trend, such as reversals or breakouts.

How to analyze VWAP? ›

VWAP is calculated by multiplying the typical price by volume and then dividing by total volume. A simple moving average incorporates price but not volume. The SMA is calculated by totaling closing prices over a certain period (say 10 days) and then dividing the total by the number of periods (10).

What is the golden cross interval? ›

A golden cross occurs when a stock's short-term moving average (average of ~50 days of movement) trades above its long-term moving average (average of ~200 days of movement).

What is the golden cross period? ›

The indicators use both 200-day and 50-day MAs to signal whether a death cross or golden cross has occurred. When the 50-day MA crosses above the 200-day MA from below, this is a golden cross. Meanwhile, a death cross is when the 50-day MA is above the 200-day MA and then crosses below the 200-day MA.

Did the dollar just form a golden cross? ›

The U.S. dollar just formed a 'golden cross,' which could cause trouble for the rest of the globe. The U.S. dollar crossed another key milestone after the Federal Reserve reiterated its commitment to higher rates, and that could create pressure elsewhere in the global economy.

What is the golden cross rule? ›

There are three stages to a golden cross:
  • A downtrend that eventually ends as selling is depleted.
  • A second stage where the shorter moving average crosses up through the longer moving average.
  • Finally, the continuing uptrend, hopefully leading to higher prices.

What is the best moving average crossover strategy? ›

The best way to trade moving average is to use the crossover strategy, where a shorter-period moving average crossing above a longer-period moving average generates a bullish signal, and vice versa for a bearish signal. This method helps indicate potential changes in the market trend.

What is the golden cross on MACD? ›

A gold cross (fork) refers to the MACD line crossing the signal line (fast line up through the slow line), at which point the column chart changes to negative and the color changes from red to green, indicating that the movement is changing from weakness to strength, and then there may be a bullish wave, which is a ...

What is the symbol of the gold cross? ›

Gold crosses are and have been one of the most popular forms of jewellery items. These symbolize faith, hope, and love among Christians worldwide. It is also a trendy and well-liked jewellery gift given at many events such as religious ones and the holidays. They hold great religious meaning in most people's lives.

What is the golden cross on DXY? ›

DXY, which measures the dollar's value against a group of major currencies, has shown a "golden cross" pattern. This happens when the 50-day moving average crosses above the 200-day moving average, hinting at a long-term increase in the dollar's value.

What is SP500 Golden Cross? ›

A golden cross is a chart pattern that occurs when a short-term moving average (MA) crosses above a long-term one. A golden cross suggests an uptrend or the start of a new bull market. The S&P 500 golden cross comes less than two months after one occurred in the Dow.

What are Golden Cross and Death Cross settings? ›

The indicators use both 200-day and 50-day MAs to signal whether a death cross or golden cross has occurred. When the 50-day MA crosses above the 200-day MA from below, this is a golden cross. Meanwhile, a death cross is when the 50-day MA is above the 200-day MA and then crosses below the 200-day MA.

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