For Business

Indicators

Golden Cross and Death Cross Explained

A golden cross is the 50-day moving average rising over the 200-day, and a death cross is the same line dropping under it: one event with two names for its two directions. This paper shows you the euro's death cross of November 2024 and golden cross of April 2025 drawn from real closes, the idea as a fast road crossing a slow one, both crosses on the daily chart, how far the price had already moved by the day each cross came, and the box that keeps the candles in front of the lines on your platform.

Difficulty
Beginner
Reading time
5 min
Pages
8
Reviewed by
Saman Rahbar

This paper is locked

Read it in the browser and keep the PDF with Premium, or buy this one paper.

Buy this paper — $1Get Premium

One line crossing another, twice

A golden cross and a death cross are one event with two names. The event is the 50-day moving average — the average of the last fifty closes — crossing the 200-day average, the average of the last two hundred. When the shorter line rises over the longer, the day is called a golden cross. When it drops under, a death cross. The euro had one of each: the blue line dropped under the gold on 26 November 2024 and rose back over it on 17 April 2025.

A crossroads

The picture is a crossroads. The pale road runs level: the 200-day average, slow, barely bending. The blue road cuts across it at an angle: the 50-day, quicker to turn. Where they meet is the cross, the day the two averages were equal. If the fast road is climbing as it crosses, the day is called golden; if it is dropping, a death cross. The junction is the same either way. The names only say which way the fast road was going through it.

This paper is locked

Read next