What does Hall have to do with this?
The Hull Moving Average (HMA) is a technical analysis trend indicator that can be used to evaluate cryptocurrency charts. The indicator was created by Australian trader Alan Hull in 2005. He introduced the HMA on his official website, which is still operational today. Hull’s main goal was to eliminate the lag inherent in other moving averages: the simple (SMA), exponential (EMA), and weighted (WMA).
Before evaluating how successful the creator was in achieving their goal, let’s turn to the formula used to calculate the HMA.
Calculating the Hull Moving Average
The Hull Line is calculated using a weighted moving average. The determination of the HMA value can be divided into three steps. First, calculate two WMA values based on the price:
On the second stage, the Raw HMA (Raw Hull Moving Average) is calculated, based on the data obtained in the first stage:
On the final step, the original HMA is smoothed once again using a weighted moving average with a period equal to the square root of the initially selected number:
In live trading, you won’t need to perform labor-intensive calculations manually. Any modern trading platform will handle all calculations automatically. The trader simply needs to select the desired number of periods, or equivalently, the length. For example, on the TradingView platform, this can be done in the following window:
Source: tradingview.com
HMA Trading Signals
In practice, when trading cryptocurrency, the Hull Moving Average (HMA) differs little from exponential and simple moving averages. Standard signals include the crossover of the fast and slow HMA lines, as well as the price position relative to the indicator itself.
For clarity, let’s examine a few examples.
Let’s use Bitcoin’s daily chart and overlay two HMA lines: a fast 21-day (orange) and a slow 50-day (purple). When the fast HMA is above the slow HMA, a bullish trend is in place; when it’s below, a bearish trend prevails. By mid-July, the fast HMA is above the slow HMA, indicating buyer dominance.
Source: tradingview.com
It should be noted that Alan Hull himself was skeptical of the crossover signal of his moving averages, believing it to be based on a time lag that has already been substantially reduced in the HMA itself.
As for the second signal, the indicator creator had no ambiguity. The interpretation is standard: if the price is above the HMA, the trend is upward; if below, it’s downward. For example, looking at the 50-day Hull Moving Average (purple) on Ethereum’s daily chart, one can observe an uptrend as of July 2026, with the price positioned above the indicator.
Source: tradingview.com
If you look at the HMA, it differs little from regular moving averages—at least visually. There is some truth to this, but the HMA is genuinely smoother.
HMA vs SMA vs EMA vs WMA
To verify the validity of the last point, take the HMA, SMA, WMA, and EMA with the same period length and observe their results on a chart. For this purpose, we’ll examine the daily Solana chart with two 50-day moving averages. From mid-May to early June, SOL declined by more than 35%. Neither the SMA (blue line) nor the HMA (purple line) signaled a top reversal. However, the purple line provided an early correction signal a few days ahead of the blue: May 15 versus May 17 (marked by yellow circles with red borders). The situation is even more telling at the end of the downtrend: the HMA signaled the reversal on June 13, while the SMA only did so on July 1 (marked by turquoise arrows). During this period, the asset’s price rose by 13%. In other words, the HMA follows price more smoothly and provides earlier signals for trend reversals.
Source: tradingview.com
Now, let’s replace the SMA on this same chart with a weighted average. The lag during the formation of the downtrend has decreased to one day, but the HMA is still ahead (marked by yellow circles with red borders). However, the difference at the end of the correction remains significant—16 days, though less than the SMA by a couple of days (marked by turquoise arrows).
Source: tradingview.com
Finally, the exponential moving average provides a middle ground between the simple and weighted moving averages. During a downtrend, it lags behind the HMA by one day—same as the WMA—and at its conclusion, it lags by 18 days—same as the SMA. In any case, the Hull Moving Average provides information earlier.
Source: tradingview.com
Despite its clear advantage, the Hull Moving Average has drawbacks.
Disadvantages of HMA
The first drawback is low efficiency during consolidations. All moving averages are trend-following indicators; during sideways markets, they generate too many false signals.
The second drawback is the need for precise configuration. Although the trader and/or analyst only needs to select one length parameter, this process can take considerable time. This is because the optimal HMA period varies by cryptocurrency—21 days for one, 50 days for another, and even 14 weeks for a third.
The third drawback is that the Hull Moving Average should not be used in isolation. Market dynamics depend on many factors, so it’s better to rely on signals from multiple analytical tools when trading.
Withdraw
In short, the Hull Moving Average is a relatively new trend-following technical indicator. Compared to simple, exponential, and weighted moving averages, the HMA follows price more smoothly and generates signals earlier. It’s best used in combination with other indicators.
This material and the information contained herein are not an individual or any other form of investment recommendation. The views of the editorial team may not align with those of analytical platforms and experts.