Purpose of the moving average shift
Hello,
I am still learning MQl4. Would someone please explain what the purpose of the moving average shift used in the iMA indicator is? What does it mean to shift the moving average and what is its application? Thanks.
The shift simply moves the value of the MA in time. So the MA value for bar 0 with shift 1 is the same as the MA value for bar 1. So shift effectively makes the lag of the indicator worse, and for that reason I never use it. Of course negative values of shift reduce the lag, but this only looks good historically because the latest value cannot be calculated.
I suggest you play around with two MA indicators with the same period and different values of shift to get a visual feel for it.
Paul
http://paulsfxrandomwalk.blogspot.com/
The shift simply moves the value of the MA in time. So the MA value for bar 0 with shift 1 is the same as the MA value for bar 1. So shift effectively makes the lag of the indicator worse, and for that reason I never use it. Of course negative values of shift reduce the lag, but this only looks good historically because the latest value cannot be calculated.
I suggest you play around with two MA indicators with the same period and different values of shift to get a visual feel for it.
Paul
http://paulsfxrandomwalk.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the info, phampton.
The shift simply moves the value of the MA in time. So the MA value for bar 0 with shift 1 is the same as the MA value for bar 1. So shift effectively makes the lag of the indicator worse, and for that reason I never use it. Of course negative values of shift reduce the lag, but this only looks good historically because the latest value cannot be calculated.
I suggest you play around with two MA indicators with the same period and different values of shift to get a visual feel for it.
Paul
http://paulsfxrandomwalk.blogspot.com/
9 Years later and this post is still usefull:) ..Thank You
adding to @paul higher ma period is more susceptible to lag but lower has more noise so instead of keeping on increasing the period to reject noise and get more lag and loosing responsiveness you increase shift to keep the responsiveness of lower period and good parts of higher period.
just get these ma's on chart and look at them
ma
1. period-15 shift-10
2. period-25 shift-0
3. period-15 shift-0
4. period-25 shift-10
3 has too much noise while 2 has too much lag
so removing the noise of 2 and keeping its responsiveness we inc shift by 10 instead of period.
4th may be better than 35 and better suiter at places where we use MA of p-35.
Hope this helps.
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Hello,
I am still learning MQl4. Would someone please explain what the purpose of the moving average shift used in the iMA indicator is? What does it mean to shift the moving average and what is its application? Thanks.