How does Moving Average works? and what is the best length?
Thank you!
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MA is just a average of a set of price or candles , there is no best MA but the popular ones that a lot of traders use are 20 , 50 , 100 & 200
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its had been working very greatly in my trading when was a newcomer in demo , but in live trading i never the same result that was good in demo.
psychological difference that was ,nothing without it, its a very common problem between demo and live result difference.
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A moving average is a continuously calculated value of the arithmetic mean of the price over a specified time period. It is named as moving because a new value is calculated, as each time frame advances, so that the value of our average adjusts with changes in the price.
So, for example, we are using a 60-day moving average. The value is the arithmetic mean of the price over the previous 60 days. The effect of a moving average is to smooth out price fluctuations.
The long-term MA’s help traders keep their focus. Traders can quickly understand whether a trend is present by adding a long-term moving average (MA) to the chart. The MA also identifies the direction of the trend. Most traders tend to use MAs around 100 to 200 period for the long-term.
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They help to determine trend and give you early signs of trend changes (MACD tool). Some traders use them extensively, build trend-following trading systems. Unfortunately, there is some degree of luck involved in success of MA-based strategies - use of the system should fall on the period when asset price exhibited signs of trend-short correction-trend… behaviour) for some long period of time (like SPX in the prior decade, due to monetary easing). If you try to use MA in the period when asset price moves in a range you will fail.
the most common moving averages are the 21 , 50 and 200 MAs
the 200 MA is used on higher time frames used to identify the overall trend
the 50 MA on a lower time frame , I’m not sure how others use it but I use it to determine my stop loss and take profit
the 21 MA is used on lower time frames to identify short term trends .
when all 3 MAs are aligned downwards , sell
when all 3 MAs are aligned upwards , buy
if the 200 MA and the 21 MA are spread out in opposite directions you could scalp it but make sure to have multiple confluences .
if anyone would like to correct me or add to this
Actually, there is nothing like fixed rule! If you are comfortable with EMA50 for Daily trading chart, no problem actually!
You all intelligent chaps but it’s always baffled.me why traders need moving averages to identify trend s 
I see your point, but they can also work as dynamic support and resistance, the 8EMA being very strong in this respect.
Why should this be? Probably a self fulfilling prophesy like many indicators!
Yes I do.use.Em 200(especially bigger timeframe s) and ,ma 50 (in the Bollinger band) just saying about about identifying trends
What if you thought outside of the FX Education box and use your MA as a level…
(GBPUSD 4 Hour)
Instead of a confusingly ambiguous white line…
(GBPUSD 4 Hour)
Which of the two charts provides a better analysis of where price really is?
Moving average Will not Make you rich… it’s just an indicator…
It just gives you a way to see how far price has gone from the average price in the least X periods. So if price is far from average, you would normally see an impulsive move recently.
Also there are two main types of MA… simple and exponential. Exponential give more Weight to the latest periods, so It Will be a little Closer to the actual price.
The most common strategy used is moving average crosses. You put in a chart a slow MA like 20 and a fast one like 9. When fast is above slow, they say it’s an uptrend. Otherways it’s a downtrend. When a Cross happens, many consider It a trend change and a trade Signal.
The most efficient period Will depend on the pair and the timeframe. Just play around with It.
Also large MA like 100 or 200 are used by many as support resistance lines