Exponential Moving Averages (EMA)

Exponential moving averages reduce the lag by applying more weight to recent prices. The weighting applied to the most recent price depends on the number of periods in the moving average. There are three steps to calculating an exponential moving average. First, calculate the simple moving average. An exponential moving average (EMA) has to start somewhere so a simple moving average is used as the previous period's EMA in the first calculation. Second, calculate the weighting multiplier. Third, calculate the exponential moving average.

EMA(current) = ( (Price(current) – EMA(prev) ) x Multiplier) + EMA(prev) 

Depending on the period you are using, the EMA will apply a percentage for how much the recent price action is weighted:

For example, a 10-period EMA’s Multiplier is calculated like this: (2 / (Time periods + 1) ) = (2 / (10 + 1) ) = 0.1818 (18.18%)