A Simple Moving Average Cross Strategy

This lesson answers a question from a student who wants to get the closing price of a confirmed MA cross. I also turned it into a strategy, because why not?

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Source Code

// This source code is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public License 2.0 at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/
// © ZenAndTheArtOfTrading
// @version=5
strategy("PineScriptMastery.com", overlay=true, default_qty_type=strategy.percent_of_equity, default_qty_value=100)

// Get user input
emaLength1 = input.int(title="EMA #1 Length", defval=50)
emaLength2 = input.int(title="EMA #2 Length", defval=100)

// Get MAs
ema1 = ta.ema(close, emaLength1)
ema2 = ta.ema(close, emaLength2)

// Draw MAs
plot(ema1, color=color.blue, title="EMA 1")
plot(ema2, color=color.red, title="EMA 2")

// Detect crossovers
bool crossOver = ta.crossover(ema1, ema2)
bool crossUnder = ta.crossunder(ema1, ema2)
bool cross = crossOver or crossUnder
//float crossPrice = ta.valuewhen(cross, close, 0)
float crossPrice = cross ? close : na

// Check if the crossover price is the highest price over the past 10 bars
bool highestPrice = crossOver
for i = 1 to 10
    if crossPrice <= close[i]
        highestPrice := false
        break

// Check if the crossover price is the lowest price over the past 10 bars
bool lowestPrice = crossUnder
for i = 1 to 10
    if crossPrice >= close[i]
        lowestPrice := false
        break

// Flag the bar if it is a high/low close
bgcolor(highestPrice ? color.new(color.green, 50) : na)
bgcolor(lowestPrice ? color.new(color.red, 50) : na)

// Display crossover price
if cross
    highestEmaPrice = ema1 > ema2 ? ema1 : ema2
    label myLabel = label.new(bar_index, highestEmaPrice, "CrossPrice=" + str.tostring(crossPrice), color=color.white)
    if highestPrice and strategy.position_size == 0
        strategy.entry(id="Buy", direction=strategy.long)
    if lowestPrice and strategy.position_size == 0
        strategy.entry(id="Sell", direction=strategy.short)

// Exit trades when short-term EMA is breached
if strategy.position_size > 0 and close < ema1
    strategy.close("Buy")
if strategy.position_size < 0 and close > ema1
    strategy.close("Sell")