# Death Cross Marks every death cross of a fast and slow moving average (the classic 50/200 SMA pair by default) and grades each event by the slow MA's slope, coloring still-rising crosses as caution and flagging re-crosses within 20 bars as whipsaws. A regime fill, recovery marks, and a context dashboard complete the regime read for position traders and investors. - Indicator in the LuxAlgo Library, by LuxAlgo, published Jun 2, 2026. - Access: free. - Concepts: [Death Cross](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/death-cross/) (primary) - Open on Vela: https://vela.luxalgo.com/chart?pineScriptCodeId=qjhdvjy89c5t4pywwv5n7e4x - Page: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/death-cross/ **Death Cross** plots a fast and a slow moving average (the classic 50/200 simple pair by default) and marks every bar where the fast average closes below the slow, grading each event's context. Where most treatments stop at the [death cross](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/death-cross/) event itself, this build reads the slow average's slope at the cross, measures the decline already consumed from the preceding regime high, flags re-crosses inside a whipsaw window, and shades the space between the averages by regime. ## How to Trade the Death Cross? - **Death Cross label**: the fast MA closed under the slow, a late-by-construction regime statement rather than a timing tool. - **Bearish vs caution color**: a cross with the slow MA flat or falling fires the Clean Death Cross alert; one with the slow MA still rising prints in the caution color and more often marks a brief dip. - **Recovery mark**: the fast MA closing back above the slow ends the standing cross; within 20 bars it is flagged as a whipsaw, the failure mode of sideways tape. - **Dashboard**: separation between the averages, price versus the slow MA, and the last cross's context fill out the picture alongside the broader [trend toolkit](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/family/trend/). ## Death Cross Settings - **Fast Length** (default 50) and **Slow Length** (default 200): the pair; the dashboard tags anything but 50/200 SMA daily as nonstandard. - **MA Type** (default SMA): simple or exponential. Exponential weighting shifts cross dates. - **Source** (default close): price series for both averages. - **Slow MA Slope Lookback** (default 20): bars used to grade the slow MA's slope at the cross. - **Whipsaw Window** (default 20): a recovery within this many bars of a cross counts as a whipsaw. - **Show Dashboard** (default enabled) plus **Death Cross Markers**, **Recovery Marks**, and **Regime Fill**, all enabled by default. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How does this relate to the Golden Cross? Same mechanics, opposite direction. The [Golden Cross](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/golden-cross/) marks the fast average crossing above the slow; here that event appears as the recovery mark ending a standing death cross. Running both makes the full regime cycle explicit. ### Why do some crosses print in the caution color? The slow MA was still rising when they printed. An average that has not flattened implies the long-term trend has not rolled over, so such crosses more often mark pullbacks than regime changes. ### Is a death cross a sell signal on its own? No. It needs months of weakness to trigger, so much of the decline is often already behind it, and outcomes after crosses have varied widely across eras. Read it as a posture change rather than a trade trigger, qualified by the slope and separation reads. ## Related indicators - [Signal Forge](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/signal-forge/) (Moving Average Crossovers): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/signal-forge.md - [LuxAlgo - Screener (S&O)](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/luxalgo-screener-s-o/) (Moving Average Crossovers): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/luxalgo-screener-s-o.md - [Signal Moving Average](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/signal-moving-average/) (Moving Average Crossovers): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/signal-moving-average.md - [MA of MA](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/ma-of-ma/) (Trend): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/ma-of-ma.md - [Moving Averages Proximity Oscillator](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/moving-averages-proximity-oscillator/) (MA Ribbon): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/moving-averages-proximity-oscillator.md - [Golden Cross](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/golden-cross/) (Trend): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/golden-cross.md - [FVG Positioning Average](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/fvg-positioning-average/) (Dynamic S/R Via MA): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/fvg-positioning-average.md - [Expanded Cloud](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/expanded-cloud/) (Dynamic S/R Via MA): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/expanded-cloud.md --- Source: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/death-cross/ (LuxAlgo Library). Free to use with attribution: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/license/