Coppock Curve

The Coppock Curve is a long-horizon momentum oscillator that smooths the sum of two rate-of-change readings with a weighted moving average. The classic recipe — a 10-period WMA of the 14-period ROC plus the 11-period ROC — comes from Edwin Coppock's 1962 publication, and those original parameters are the defaults here. Designed around monthly closes of broad equity indexes, its celebrated signal is the upward hook that forms while the curve is still below zero. This is the standard implementation of Coppock's indicator, with lookbacks and source exposed as inputs for scaling to other charts.

How to Trade the Coppock Curve?

• Upturn from below zero: the canonical buy condition — momentum that remains negative but has begun to recover. Judge it on completed bars — an in-progress hook can still flatten.
• Zero Cross Up: momentum turning positive; a slower confirmation that an advance has taken hold.
• Downturn from above zero or Zero Cross Down: no part of the original definition, but commonly read as warning that a mature advance is losing momentum.
• Above zero and rising: a supportive long-term backdrop; below zero and falling, the opposite.

Coppock Curve Settings

• WMA Length (default 10): the weighted moving average applied to the summed rates of change; its front-loaded weighting lets recent bars steer the hook.
• Long RoC Length (default 14): the longer rate-of-change lookback — 14 monthly closes in the original definition.
• Short RoC Length (default 11): the shorter rate-of-change lookback, 11 periods classically.
• Source (default close): the price series used for both rate-of-change calculations.

Alerts

Zero Cross Up and Zero Cross Down alert conditions fire as the curve crosses its zero line in either direction.

Frequently Asked Questions

What timeframe suits the Coppock Curve best?

Monthly charts of broad indexes are its native habitat — the 14 and 11 lookbacks were defined in months, and the below-zero precondition only appears after prices have spent roughly a year losing ground. On weekly or daily bars it still works as a smoothed momentum line, just a far less selective one.

Does the Coppock Curve give sell signals?

Coppock published only the buy side: the upturn from below zero. Downturns from above zero and bearish zero crosses are later extensions — useful as momentum warnings, but without the original design rationale behind them.

How does the Coppock Curve differ from a plain rate of change?

A single ROC compares price to one reference bar and lurches when an extreme bar ages out of its window. The Coppock construction sums two overlapping lookbacks and smooths them with a front-weighted average — a slower line whose turns matter more than its level.