Momentumdraws in its own pane

The gap between two EMAs, plus a signal line and histogram. The histogram crossing zero is a rough marker for momentum changing direction.

On this chart: 12 / 26 EMAs, 9-period signal.

MACD subtracts the 26-period EMA from the 12-period EMA. When the fast average pulls away from the slow one, momentum is building in that direction; the signal line is a 9-period EMA of the MACD itself, and the histogram is the distance between the two.

The histogram shrinking toward zero means the current move is decelerating — often the earliest visible change. The MACD line crossing the signal line, and either crossing zero, are the classic later confirmations, each slower and more reliable than the last.

A decelerating decline (histogram rising toward zero from below) describes the moment a pullback is losing force — the environment where put sellers start finding strikes with support behind them. The same logic mirrors for calls into a decelerating rally.

Like everything in this guide, these are descriptions of conditions and reference levels — context for your own decisions, not instructions to trade.