Say you've got a moving average that's so fast it melts your face, but it's not the smoothest MA in the world? How do you smooth it? Here's my super fast MA after I smoothed it, but it could be smoother. It's the light blue one in this pic. The pink one is a 5 period EMA (OHLC/4), for reference. <img src=http://elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=2091334 width=800>
Here's what I would do. Get rid of the moving averge and then take a look at a candlestick for "x" period of time in both it's regular candlestick formation and in its heikin-ashi style formation as well. What do you see?
Heikin Ashi is cool BUT misleading because you're not looking at price. I remember the first time I loaded HA candles on accident... I was like "OMG HOLY GRAIL!"
Read up on HMA. It corrects much quicker than EMA and esp. SMA's. Disclaimer: I don't use MA's anymore I believe them to be lagging just like indicators. If they work for you great.
My takes: - You didn't name the argument for your MA. Is it also ohlc/4? - The two MAs seem to peak and trough at the same speed, but your MA has less attenuation, which is a plus as a rule. - Avoid the HMA. It overshoots. The last thing you want in a smoother is overshooting. - Think about adaptive smoothing, if you're not doing that already.
how about a weighted moving avereage, it is standard, and free you can change weight parameters to get a better weighting for a specific market piazzi
and I agree with that, they are, like other technical indicators, tools to employ to study a market piazzi