Moving Averages Convergence/Divergence Indicator Blau_MACD – indicator MetaTrader 5

Author: Andrey N. Bolkonsky

The Moving Averages Convergence/Divergence Indicator by William Blau is described in the book Momentum, Direction, and Divergence: Applying the Latest Momentum Indicators for Technical Analysis”.

The Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD) technical Indicator is the difference between two exponentially smoothed moving averages (EMA) (fast EMA has period s and slow EMA has period r).

The sign of MACD indicates the relative position of fast s-period EMA and slow r-period EMA. It’s positive when EMA(s)>EMA(r) and negative if EMA(s)<EMA(r). The increase of the |MACD| (absolute value) indicates the divergence of moving averages, the decrease of of the |MACD| indicated the convergence of EMAs.

• WilliamBlau.mqh must be placed in terminal_data_folder\MQL5\Include\
• Blau_SM_Stochastic.mq5 must be placed in terminal_data_folder\MQL5\Indicators\

Moving Averages Convergence/Divergence by William Blau.

Calculation:

Moving Averages Convergence/Divergence is calculated by formula:

where:

• price – close price of the current period;
• EMA(price,r) – slow EMA with period r, applied to price;
• EMA(price,s) – fast EMA with period s, applied to price.

The formula of MACD by William Blau looks as follows:

where:

• price – close price;
• EMA(price,r) – 1st smoothing – slow EMA, applied to price;
• EMA(price,s) – 2nd smoothingе – fast EMA, appled to price;
• macd(r,s)=EMA(price,s)-EMA(price,r) – moving averages convergence/divergence;
• EMA(macd(r,s),u) – 3rd smoothing (with period u), applied to MACD.

Input parameters:

• r – period of the 1st EMA (slow), applied to price (by default r=20);
• s – period of the 2nd EMA (fast), applied to price (by default s=5)
• u – period of the 3rd EMA, applied to MACD (by default u=3);
• AppliedPrice – price type (by default AppliedPrice=PRICE_CLOSE).

Note:

• r>1, s>1;
• s<r (according by William Blau, there isn’t any checks in the code);
• u>0. If u=1, smoothing is not used;
• Min. rates =([max(r,s)]+u-2+1).