Hull Moving Average: Reducing Lag While Preserving Smoothness

Summary

The document introduces the Hull Moving Average (HMA) as an approach to making a moving average respond more quickly to price while retaining a smooth curve. It gives the construction: take a weighted moving average of twice the half-period weighted moving average minus the full-period weighted moving average, then apply a weighted moving average over the square root of the period. The source attributes the indicator to Alan Hull and describes its motivation as reducing the lag common in a simple moving average.

It also describes a MetaTrader 4 implementation intended to reduce computation by avoiding loops, allow adjustment of the indicator’s speed, and avoid repainting. The document does not provide comparative tests, implementation details, or evidence supporting those claims. It notes that the original form can overshoot, so results and behavior may depend on the chosen variation and settings. The description is therefore useful as an indicator concept and formula, but does not establish its trading performance or suitability for any market.

Key ideas

• The HMA combines weighted moving averages at different lookback lengths to reduce lag.
• Its final smoothing window is based on the square root of the selected period.
• The source presents responsiveness and curve smoothness as the indicator’s intended benefits.
• A MetaTrader 4 variant is described as computationally efficient, adjustable, and non-repainting, but the document gives no verification.

Tags

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.