DEMA
The double exponential moving average — an EMA with most of its delay taken back out.
Double exponential average — cancels EMA's lag by subtracting the measured delay itself.
- Candles
- 1m, 3m, 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 2h, 4h, 6h, 12h, 1d, 1w, 1M
- Footprint
- 1m, 5m, 15m, 1h
- Alerts
- no
What it shows
A moving average that follows price more closely than an EMA of the same length. It works out how far an EMA trails behind price by taking an EMA of the EMA itself, then removes that much delay from the EMA. The result is still smooth but turns noticeably sooner.
Despite the name, it is not an EMA applied twice — that would be slower, not faster.
How to read it
- Slope. The direction of the line shows the direction of recent closes, and it changes direction earlier than an EMA would.
- Price against the line. Closes above a rising DEMA describe an uptrend, closes below a falling one a downtrend. Since the DEMA stays closer to price, price crosses it more often than an EMA.
- Pairs. A DEMA crossing an EMA of the same length gives an early read of a change in trend, because the DEMA reaches the new direction first.
Parameters
| Setting | Control | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Length | Number | How many candles go into the average. Larger is smoother and slower to react. Common: 20, 50, 200. 1–1000 · default 20 |
| Colour | Colour |
Length is counted in candles and is the length of each EMA inside it. Swapping an EMA for a DEMA of the same length keeps the window the same and shortens the delay, so you do not need to shorten the length to make the line react sooner.
Limitations
- It is computed from the candles loaded on the panel. It needs about twice its length before the first value, because the second average only starts once the first has one. The first values also depend a little on where the loaded history begins, and settle after a few lengths.
- Taking out the delay also takes out some smoothing: in a choppy market the DEMA wobbles more than an EMA and can run slightly past price at sharp turns.
- The newest candle's close is the live price, so the last point of the line moves until that candle closes.
- It follows the candle shape: on Heikin Ashi it uses the real closes, and on Renko, range bars and line break the closes of the bricks and bars drawn — see Where an indicator can be drawn.
- It prints no value: read it against the price axis.
- It takes no alert. Its Alert tab says it draws no signal; for a price level, set a price alert.