Weighted Moving Average

The WMA sits between the simple and exponential averages: it emphasises recent data like the EMA but drops the oldest value entirely like the SMA, so it retains a smaller version of the drop-off effect. Linear weighting is arbitrary — there is no reason a price four days ago should matter exactly four-fifths as much as one three days ago — and the choice is convention rather than theory. It is less used than the other two, largely because it offers no clear advantage over an EMA of comparable responsiveness. Its main appearance today is inside the Hull moving average and similar composite constructions.