TRIX

The TRIX plots the one-bar percentage rate of change of a triple-smoothed exponential moving average of price, producing a momentum oscillator that fluctuates around a zero line. Jack Hutson ran the close through three successive EMAs precisely so that swings briefer than the chosen length get filtered away, leaving the line to register only turns in the smoothed trend. This is the standard raw implementation with the classic smoothing length of 18, joined by a 9-period EMA signal line and a dashed zero line.

How to Trade the TRIX?

• TRIX above zero: the triple-smoothed trend is rising — the filtered regime is up, and long trades are the aligned ones.
• TRIX below zero: the smoothed trend is falling; sustained negative stretches define the bearish regime.
• TRIX crossing above the Signal line: the earlier, more frequent trigger — most useful when it agrees with the zero-line side.
• TRIX crossing below the Signal line: the mirror trigger, with the same caveat.
• Slope inflections: the line rounding over or curling up ahead of any cross is the earliest hint the filtered trend is bending.

Because the output is a one-bar percent change of a heavily smoothed series, absolute values are small and scale with the instrument's volatility. What transfers across markets is the sign, the slope, and the crosses — not the level.

TRIX Settings

• Length (default 18): the length of each of the three EMA passes applied to the close; raising it screens out more noise and confirms turns later, lowering it lets shorter swings back through.
• Signal Length (default 9): the EMA applied to TRIX to form the signal line; shorter fires crosses earlier and more often.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is TRIX different from the MACD?

Both are EMA-derived, zero-centered momentum tools, but MACD differences two EMAs of price while TRIX takes the rate of change of one triple-smoothed EMA. That makes TRIX materially smoother and slower: it whipsaws less in chop and concedes more of each turn.

What alerts does the TRIX build include?

Four alert conditions: bullish and bearish zero-line crosses, and bullish and bearish signal-line crosses. Zero crosses mark regime changes in the filtered trend; signal crosses fire earlier within it and fail more often.

What is the best timeframe for TRIX?

The math is timeframe-agnostic — the 18/9 defaults behave the same on hourly bars as on dailies, just over proportionally shorter horizons. The more consequential choice is the instrument: TRIX rewards markets that trend and drifts near zero in ranges, so it works best as a slow regime layer with entries timed by something faster.