Stocks Above the 50-Day Moving Average

This page describes the close-above-50-day check on the free screen at Trend & Behaviour. The same rules are written in full on the methodology page, and the wider S&P 500 screen is described on the S&P 500 trend screener page.

Find stocks above the 50-day average

What 'above the 50-day' means

The 50-day moving average is the simple average of the last 50 daily closes. Add those 50 closes and divide by 50. It is not an exponential average, so each of those closes has the same weight. A stock passes the check when its last price is above that average.

People often use the line as a plain way to describe a medium-term trend: the last price is on the upper side of the last 50 sessions. That is all the check means here. It narrows a list. It does not recommend buying or selling, and it does not say that a name above the line is better than a name below it.

How the screener uses it

The screener opens on the S&P 500 list, labeled All 500, and the close-above-50-day check is on by default. Leaders and Momentum are also available. Leaders is a shorter set of large names from the same index. Momentum runs the full index with the momentum preset. The 50-day check is the same on each list.

A name is listed only when every switched-on check passes. A check that is off is not part of the pass. You can turn the 50-day check off. A new visit starts with it on, together with the default RSI band, and with the other checks left off.

Adding momentum checks

RSI is Wilder's 14-day RSI of the daily closes. The default band is 45–70, and that band is on by default. The band can be changed. A reading outside the band fails the check, even when the last price is above the 50-day average.

MACD is the 12-day exponential average of the closes minus the 26-day exponential average. The signal line is a 9-day exponential average of the MACD line. A cross is the day the MACD line moves from at or below the signal line to above it. The default asks for that cross within the last 3 sessions. The MACD check is off by default. You can turn it on. Strategy and risk checks are separate, and the methodology page states each of them.

Data and limits

Daily bars come from Yahoo Finance, regular session only, about one year back. A quote is kept for eight minutes, so a scan can be a few minutes behind. This is not an exchange feed. The 50-day average, RSI, and MACD are calculated on completed daily closes. During the session the last price can move while those indicators still rest on finished days.

A stock can move back below its average at any time. The next completed daily close is what the check will use. The screen does not follow the price tick by tick.

Not financial advice

Results are not recommendations to buy or sell anything. No performance is claimed. Past price behaviour does not predict future returns. A name above its 50-day average has only met the checks that were on.

FAQ