Popular indicators use by most professional and retail traders? (2025)

Among professional and retail traders, the Moving Average (MA) is widely regarded as the most popular technical indicator. It’s simple, versatile, and effective for identifying trends and potential entry or exit points. Specifically, the Simple Moving Average (SMA) and Exponential Moving Average (EMA) are the two most common variants. The 50-day and 200-day SMAs are especially popular for spotting long-term trends, while shorter EMAs, like the 20-day or 9-day, are favoured for quicker, more responsive signals in active trading. Why it’s so popular? It smooths out price noise, works across all markets—stocks, forex, crypto, you name it—and can be adapted to any timeframe. Beginners love it for its straightforwardness, while pros combine it with other tools like RSI or MACD for more robust strategies. Ever heard of the “golden cross” or “death cross”? Those are Moving Average crossovers that traders swear by for big moves. Hourly, daily or weekly charts? The popularity of Moving Averages...