📈 Indicators·beginner

Death Cross

When a short-term moving average (typically 50-day) crosses BELOW a long-term moving average (typically 200-day) — a major bearish signal.

A death cross is the bearish opposite of the golden cross. The 50-day moving average crosses BELOW the 200-day moving average, signaling that the long-term trend has shifted from up to down. Like the golden cross, the death cross is widely reported and watched by institutional traders. Death crosses on major indices have historically marked the start of recessions and bear markets. They're not perfect (lots of false signals on choppy assets), but they're good enough that pension funds and asset managers actually adjust risk based on them. The entry strategy is the same as the golden cross but inverted: don't short immediately on the cross — wait for the first PULLBACK back up to the 50 EMA, then short with a tight stop.

Real trade example

BTCUSD printed a weekly death cross in early 2022 at around $42k. Price dropped to $15k over the following 10 months — a textbook death cross-led bear market.

Related terms

Golden Cross

beginner

When a short-term moving average (typically 50-day) crosses above a long-term moving average (typically 200-day) — a major bullish signal.

Moving Average

beginner

A smoothed line showing the average price over a recent period — the most-used indicator in technical analysis.

Donchian Channel

advanced

A channel formed by the highest high and lowest low over a set period — used in classic breakout systems.

Heiken Ashi

intermediate

A modified candlestick chart that smooths price action — uses an averaged open and close to filter noise and reveal trends.

Supertrend

intermediate

A trend-following indicator based on ATR that plots a single line above or below price — line below means uptrend, above means downtrend.

Divergence

intermediate

When price moves in one direction but a momentum indicator moves in the opposite direction — a warning of trend exhaustion.

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