Switchback — the MACD momentum cross on daily bars.

The momentum tide

MACD measures the gap between two moving averages — not where price is, but how quickly the trend is gaining or losing pace. Its signal line is a smoothed version of itself, and where the two cross, momentum has changed hands.

Both lines render in their own panel beneath the chart, so the turn is visible as it happens.

One fire per turn

The rising cross goes long, the falling cross goes short. Because a cross is an EVENT rather than a state, it fires once per turn and then waits — the signal throttles itself without needing a cooldown.

On daily bars those turns are infrequent and meaningful, which is why this one is set on the slow clock rather than an intraday chart.

The settings that matter

The fast period is the dial that most changes its character — how quickly the MACD line responds to a shift in pace. A faster setting turns earlier and takes more trades.

The slow and signal periods set the baseline and the smoothing, and the ATR stop with a 3R target gives each turn room to develop.