TRIX is a momentum indicator that displays the percent rate-of-change of a triple exponentially smoothed moving average of a security's closing price. It was developed in the early 1980's by Jack Hutson, an editor for Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities magazine. Oscillating around a 0.00 "zero" line, TRIX is designed to filter out stock movements that are insignificant to the larger trend of the stock. The user selects a number of periods (such as 15) with which to create the moving average, and those cycles that are shorter than that period are filtered out.
The TRIX is a leading indicator and can be used to anticipate turning points in a trend through its divergence with the security price. Likewise, it is common to plot a moving average with a smaller period (such as 9) and use it as a "signal line" to anticipate where the TRIX is heading. TRIX line crossovers with its "signal line" can be used as buy/sell signals as well.
TRIX calculates a triple exponential moving average of the log of the price input over the period of time specified by the length input for the current bar. The current bar's value is subtracted by the previous bar's value. This prevents cycles that are shorter than the period defined by length input from being considered by the indicator.
Advantages of TRIX
Two main advantages of TRIX over other trend-following indicators are its excellent filtration of market noise and its tendency to be a leading than lagging indicator. It filters out market noise using the triple exponential average calculation, thus eliminating minor short-term cycles that indicate a change in market direction. It has the ability to lead a market because it measures the difference between each bar's "smoothed" version of the price information. When interpreted as a leading indicator, TRIX is best used in conjunction with another market-timing indicator - this minimizes false indications.
