EMA Clouds runs on MT4 and MT5. It draws five pairs of moving averages at once, each pair
a band you can switch on or off, so instead of watching one line cross another you watch
how many of the five have turned.
Three pairs are on out of the box: 8 against 9, 5 against 12, and 34 against 50. Two more,
72 against 89 and 180 against 200, are there and switched off.
What the number actually is
Nothing exotic, and that's the point. Each pair is two moving averages of the same source,
and the source is HL2 by default rather than the close, so a long wick moves the line less
than a close at the extreme would.
What makes it worth having as one indicator rather than five copies of a moving average is
the choice of lengths. Look at the gaps:
| Pair | Fast | Slow | Gap | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 9 | one bar | on |
| 2 | 5 | 12 | seven bars | on |
| 3 | 34 | 50 | sixteen bars | on |
| 4 | 72 | 89 | seventeen bars | off |
| 5 | 180 | 200 | twenty bars | off |
The 8 and 9 pair is almost a single line: it exists to show the instant momentum flips,
because two averages one period apart cross on the first bar that disagrees. The 34 and 50
pair is a wide band that takes a real change of trend to cross. Everything between is a
question of how much confirmation you want, and having all of them on the same chart is
the whole feature: you read the trend by counting which bands have crossed.
MA Type switches every pair between EMA and SMA at once, and Source Type between HL2
and the close. Both apply globally; there's no per-pair setting.
Where this differs from a ribbon
| What a ribbon has to decide | What most of them do | What this one does |
|---|---|---|
| How many lines | One length, or a fan of the same length family | Five independent pairs, each switchable |
| What the lengths mean | Round numbers spaced evenly | Deliberately uneven: one bar apart at the fast end, twenty at the slow |
| How you read a turn | A single crossover, treated as a signal | By how many pairs have crossed and how many have not |
| What price to average | The close | HL2 by default, close if you prefer it |
| Whether to shade the bands | Fill everything, in colour | Off by default, and it only ever fills one pair |
That last row is a decision rather than a limitation, so it's worth being straight about
it. There's a Fill beetween 2 EMA switch and a What EMA should be fill number, and
together they shade one chosen band. It's off because a filled band covers the candles
underneath it, and on a chart already carrying six lines that costs more than it gives. If
you want it, turn it on and pick a pair. If you were expecting five shaded clouds, this
isn't that.
What it doesn't move
A closed bar's value is written once. On every tick after the first pass only the newest
bar is recalculated, which is the newest point of each line moving as its candle forms,
exactly as any moving average does.
There are no arrows, no boxes and no labels. Ten lines is what you get, and nothing on the
chart is placed retroactively.
What it can't do
There are no alerts. Not off by default, not hidden in a settings group: the
indicator has no notification code at all. If you need to be told when a pair crosses, this
isn't the tool, and I'd rather say so here than have you buy it and go looking.
It only calculates the last 1000 bars. That's the Lookback setting. Scroll far enough
left and the lines simply stop. Set it to 0 for the full history and expect the first load
to take a moment on a long chart.
Ten lines is a lot of chart. Two of the five pairs are off by default for that reason,
not because they're less useful. Turn on all five and you get a dense ribbon that reads
well on H4 and is a mess on M5.
The EMA and SMA switch is all or nothing. You cannot run the fast pairs as EMAs and
the slow ones as SMAs, which is the first thing some people want to try.
You won't find a win rate table in this listing, and I'd be careful with any indicator
listing that has one. It draws moving averages in pairs. What a crossing means is your
call.
The fiddliest part of shipping this had nothing to do with the averages. A pair you switch
off leaves its buffers unwritten, and the terminal happily draws whatever was in that
memory: on gold H4 that showed up as a jagged line across the top of the chart that had
nothing to do with price. Both builds now blank every line at the start of each bar and
fill in only the pairs that are on.
Questions you'll have
Does EMA Clouds repaint? No. A closed bar's values are written once and never
revisited. The newest point of each line moves while its candle is open, the way every
moving average does.
Why do the lines stop when I scroll back? Lookback is 1000 bars by default. Set it
to 0 to calculate the whole chart.
Can I get an alert when two lines cross? No. There is no notification code in this
indicator at all, on either platform.
What are the best settings for EMA Clouds? Start with the three that are on. If you
trade higher timeframes, turn on pair 4 and 5 as well; if you trade fast, turn off pair 3
rather than adding more.
Why are the 72/89 and 180/200 pairs switched off? Chart clutter, nothing else. They
work exactly like the others.
Should I turn the fill on? Only if you want one band shaded and you can live with the
candles under it being harder to read. It shades one pair, not all five.
MT4 or MT5? Both, and your subscription covers both. Same lengths, same defaults, one
download each.
Support
Message me through the site with a screenshot showing the chart, plus the symbol and
timeframe. That's usually enough for me to tell you what happened. Updates are included
for as long as your subscription is running.
Analysis tool. It places no trades and makes no profitability claim. Past price
behaviour is not a guide to future price behaviour.