moving average

American  

noun

Statistics.

1. one of a succession of averages of data from a time series, where each average is calculated by successively shifting the interval by the same period of time.

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moving average British  

noun

1. statistics (of a sequence of values) a derived sequence of the averages of successive subsequences of a given number of members, often used in time series to even out short-term fluctuations and make a trend clearer

   the 3-term moving average of 4, 6, 8, 7, 9, 8 is 6, 7, 8

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Etymology

Origin of moving average

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

In early March, there was a light volume pullback to the newly formed 50-day simple moving average, which created the handle.

From Barron's

That’s when the widely followed short-term trend tracker — the 50-day moving average — crossed below the 200-day moving average, which many view as a dividing line between longer-term uptrends and downtrends.

From MarketWatch

The S&P 500 remains 4% below its 200-day moving average.

From Barron's

The S&P 500 is still some 4% south of its 200-day moving average, which it breached for the first time in more than a year on March 20.

From Barron's

And it also needs to be remembered the S&P 500 is trading around 3% south of its 200-day moving average, which it breached for the first time in a year on Feb. 20.

From Barron's