The textbook Golden Cross / Death Cross. Defined as 50-day SMA above/below 200-day SMA on the daily chart.
Most financial-news desks define the Golden Cross and Death Cross using simple moving averages on daily data — not exponential. This page tracks the textbook 50/200 SMA pair for Indian indices: where it is right now, when it last flipped, and what its forward-return profile has been over the last 5 years. Compare it directly against the 50/200 EMA on the EMA-vs-SMA page.
Updated 2026-09-19 20:28 IST · Daily chart, simple moving average
Daily chart
Daily chart
SMA crosses on this pair are rare events — typically months or years between them. The list below spans our full 5-year history.
For each historical day, we classify the state under the 50/200 SMA pair (Golden if fast > slow, Death otherwise) and measure the next-day close-to-close return. The table tells you whether the SMA-state classification has predictive value at this configuration.
2022-02-15 → 2026-09-16 · 1132 days
| State | N days | Mean fwd 1d | Win% | t-stat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Cross | 779 | +0.024% | 53.5% | 0.84 |
| Death Cross | 353 | +0.043% | 50.1% | 0.84 |
2022-02-15 → 2026-09-16 · 1131 days
| State | N days | Mean fwd 1d | Win% | t-stat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Cross | 882 | +0.029% | 53.6% | 0.85 |
| Death Cross | 249 | +0.080% | 51.8% | 1.13 |
The 50/200 EMA cross flips at slightly different times than the SMA cross. Whether that matters depends on what you're trying to do. We've published the side-by-side comparison: average lag, total cross counts, and forward-return profile of each.
The Golden Cross is the moment when the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) crosses above the 200-day SMA on the daily chart. It is widely interpreted as a bullish long-term signal and is the canonical SMA-based crossover quoted by financial-news desks worldwide.
The Death Cross is the inverse of the Golden Cross — when the 50-day SMA falls below the 200-day SMA on the daily chart. It is interpreted as a bearish long-term signal.
Culturally and in mainstream financial-news coverage, Golden Cross and Death Cross are defined using SMA — simple moving averages — not EMA. The 50-day SMA crossing above the 200-day SMA is the textbook definition. We also publish the EMA equivalent for comparison; see emaindicator.com/ema-vs-sma for a side-by-side.