TRIX Indicator on a Live Gold Chart

What it shows

The TRIX line runs in its own pane around a zero guide. It is slow and smooth on purpose, so it ignores most small wiggles and turns only when the trend underneath does.

How Pravex works it out

1. Take the natural logarithm of each close. Working in logs means equal percentage moves count the same at any price level.
2. Run an exponential average of length Length over those values, then another over the result, then a third. Each pass uses alpha = 2 ÷ (Length + 1), starting from a simple average of the first Length values.
3. Take the change of that triple average from the previous candle.
4. TRIX = that change × 10000. A reading of 5 means the triple-smoothed log price rose by 0.0005 in the last candle, about 0.05 percent.

Settings

Setting	Default	What changing it does
Length	18	The length of each of the three averages. A shorter length makes TRIX react sooner and wiggle more; a longer one makes it smoother and later.

How traders read it

The zero line is the main reference. TRIX above it means the smoothed trend is rising, below it falling. A cross through zero is the smoothed average changing direction.

Because it is a rate of change of a smoothed line, TRIX tends to turn before the smoothed average itself looks like it has turned. That early turn works as a heads-up, with price left to confirm it.

Peaks and troughs can be compared with earlier ones. A lower peak in TRIX while price makes a higher high says the trend is gaining less speed than before.

When it misleads

Three layers of averaging add real delay. By the time TRIX crosses zero, price has often moved on, and in a choppy, sideways market the line hugs zero and crosses it with no follow-through. The default length of 18 also needs well over 50 candles of history before the line settles, so it starts late on a fresh chart.

Questions and answers

Is a positive TRIX bullish?

Only in a narrow sense: the triple-smoothed average of the log close rose since the previous candle. It tells you the direction of that slow trend, not where price goes next.

Why does Pravex use the log of the close?

Our TRIX takes the natural logarithm first, so the same percentage move gives the same reading whether gold is at a high or a low price.

Why does TRIX start so late on the chart?

Each of the three averages needs its own 18 candles to get going, and each one starts from the one before, so the line needs about 50 candles of history before it means much. A shorter length starts sooner and wiggles more.

How is TRIX different from MACD?

MACD is the gap between two averages. TRIX is the one-candle change of a single average smoothed three times, on the log of the close, so it is slower, has fewer crosses and reads as a percentage-like speed.

Related: Moving Average Convergence Divergence, Rate Of Change, Triple EMA, Momentum, every indicator.