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Why Everyone Watches the 200 Moving Average

The 200-day moving average is the average of the last two hundred closes — about ten months — and it is watched because it hardly bends, because it is on almost every chart, and because 'above it or below it' is the first thing said about any market. This paper shows you gold staying above the line for 679 trading days drawn from real closes, the idea as a mountain everyone steers by, the euro crossing the line on the daily chart, what two hundred days actually is, and the bars the line needs before it can be drawn on your platform.

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

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Two years and eight months on one side

The 200-day moving average is the average of the last two hundred closes, worked out again after every close. It is the slowest line most people keep, and gold shows what that means. On 18 October 2023 gold's close went above the line, and for 679 trading days — two years and eight months, through a rise from 1947 to over 4400 — every close stayed above it. On 5 June 2026 a close landed under it again. One line, one sentence, and the whole of that stretch is described.

A mountain on the horizon

The picture is a mountain on the horizon. It does not move, everyone on every road can see it, and so everyone describes where they are by it: this side of the mountain, or beyond it. The 200-day average is the chart's mountain. It barely bends, it is on almost every chart, and 'above the 200' or 'below the 200' is the first thing said about any market on any news page. It is watched, in the end, because it is watched, and that makes it the most shared landmark on the chart.

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