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Reversals scan

MACD Bullish Crossover Screener

This scan finds stocks where the MACD line (12, 26) crossed above its signal line (9) on the latest day: a common sign that momentum is turning up.

Run this scan in the live demoFree, no sign-up. The demo uses made-up sample data.

The exact rule

Type this in Chalni: macd crossed above signal

  1. MACD crossed above MACD signal

Find US stocks where the MACD line (12, 26) crossed above the MACD signal line (9) today.

Formula view
crosses_above(macd_line(12, 26), macd_signal(9))
Example chart: MACD bullish crossoverDaily candles of a made-up sample stock with Lower panel: MACD line (amber) and signal line (blue), dotted line at 0. The shaded day is the day the scan fired.
  • Lower panel: MACD line (amber) and signal line (blue), dotted line at 0
  • Shaded day: the scan fired
Example from Chalni's made-up sample market, not a real stock. It shows the most recent time this scan fired in the sample US market, picked whether or not the trade worked.

What it means

MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence) was developed by Gerald Appel in the late 1970s. The MACD line is the 12-day EMA minus the 26-day EMA. The signal line is a 9-day EMA of the MACD line.

When the MACD line crosses above the signal line, the short-term average is gaining on the long-term one faster than before. It is one of the most watched momentum signals in trading.

How traders use it

  • Crosses above the zero line happen in uptrends. Crosses below zero are earlier and riskier (see the related scan).
  • Add price above the 50-day or 200-day average to trade with the trend.
  • Exit or tighten your stop when MACD crosses back below the signal line.

Watch out for

  • In flat markets, MACD crosses back and forth often.
  • Like every moving-average tool, MACD lags: it reacts after the price has already moved.

Test it before you trust it

Every scan in Chalni sits an exam. First it runs on older data, the practice: each time it picks a stock, the stock is held for 10 trading days and 0.2% is paid in costs. Then it runs on newer data it has never seen, the exam. A scan that only works in practice has just memorised the past.

See the practice and exam results for this scan in the demo (on sample data; real data comes at launch).

Questions

Is a MACD crossover a buy signal?

Many traders treat it as one, but on its own it gives many false signals. It works better with a trend filter and a stop loss.

What are the default MACD settings?

12, 26 and 9: the 12-day and 26-day EMAs for the MACD line, and a 9-day EMA for the signal line.

Related scans