Concept
Rainbow MA Stack
Rainbow MA Stack is a Trend concept. The Library holds 3 implementations, each one a working definition you can pull into Quant.
Top Rainbow MA Stack indicators
3 total
What is a Rainbow MA Stack?
A rainbow MA stack plots many moving averages at once, colored in a gradient so the group reads as a single band. Two constructions share the name: a set of averages with stepped lengths, for example ten SMAs from short to long, and Mel Widner's original 1997 Rainbow Charts, where a short average is smoothed again and again so each line is a two-period smoothing of the previous line. Either way, the information is in the band's geometry, not in any single line.
The standard read: lines stacked in length order and fanning apart mark an established trend with agreement across horizons; lines compressing and braiding mark consolidation; price cutting into the band warns that the shortest horizons have already flipped. The logic is the same as an MA ribbon, and the two terms overlap heavily in practice, with rainbow usually implying more lines and a gradient palette.
How traders use it
- As a visual regime gauge: fan width stands in for trend strength, compression for range conditions, and color-ordered stacking for alignment across lookbacks.
- As layered dynamic support and resistance: pullbacks that hold in the upper bands of a rising rainbow keep the trend read intact, while a decisive close through the whole stack is a common reversal warning.
- As a compression-breakout setup: when the entire stack knots together, the first sustained expansion out of the knot is followed directionally, similar in spirit to Guppy GMMA compression plays.
Related concepts · Moving-average lineage
Concept family
Trend
100 concepts mapped · 88 in the Library
Rainbow MA Stack FAQ
What is the difference between a rainbow MA stack and an MA ribbon?
Mostly vocabulary, and usage overlaps. Ribbon typically means a handful of same-type averages with stepped lengths; rainbow usually implies a larger, gradient-colored set. In Widner's original Rainbow Charts each line is a recursive two-period smoothing of the previous line rather than a longer lookback on price, which gives the inner lines a slightly different lag character. The reading conventions are the same.
How many moving averages does a rainbow use?
Widner's original construction used ten lines, the first a two-period average of price and each further line a two-period smoothing of the one before; most modern versions keep a similar count. The number is a readability choice, not a tuned parameter: fewer lines make crossings easier to see, more lines render compression and expansion more smoothly. What matters is spanning enough horizons to make regime shifts visible.
Build Rainbow MA Stack your way.
Quant writes, tests, and refines it with you — then it runs on LuxAlgo charting or ports to TradingView.