Supported Types

Supported Types

This page breaks down the 21 MA choices in Axiom MA Pro in trader terms.

The exact labels change a little from one Axiom product to another. You might see MA Type, Signal Type, Master MA Type, or slot-specific prefixes like K, D, or Master. The behavior underneath is the same.

Before you start

• Length controls most Pro MA types.

• ALMA also uses ALMA Offset, ALMA Sigma, and ALMA Floor Offset?

• KAMA and FRAMA also use Fast and Slow

• JMA also uses Jurik Phase and Jurik Power

• Laguerre uses Laguerre Alpha

• VAMA uses VAMA Vol Length

• VWMA needs usable volume data

• SWMA ignores Length

• Laguerre ignores Length

If you just need a sane starting point:

1. Start with SMA or EMA.

2. Use ALMA if you want a tunable smoother.

3. Use KAMA if you specifically want adaptive behavior and you understand why.

4. Leave the rest alone until you have a real reason.

Types by job

Core and familiar types

SMA

What it is: The plain average of the last Length bars. Every bar gets equal weight.

Settings that matter: Length

Context: This is the baseline most people should understand before they start getting fancy.

When people use it: General trend structure, support and resistance context, baseline comparisons, and any workflow where legibility matters more than speed.

What to watch for: It is slower than the faster-weighted types at the same length. That is normal.

EMA

What it is: A moving average that gives more weight to recent bars, so it turns faster than SMA.

Settings that matter: Length

Context: The classic "I want the same job as SMA, just less delay" choice.

When people use it: Faster trend reads, pullback context, crossover work, and most general-purpose smoothing where they want a line that moves with price.

What to watch for: Short lengths can make EMA cling to price much harder than expected.

RMA

What it is: Wilder-style smoothing. It usually feels heavier and calmer than EMA at the same length.

Settings that matter: Length

Context: This is the same smoothing family traders know from RSI-style calculations.

When people use it: When EMA feels too jumpy but SMA feels too plain, or when they want a slower, more damped line without leaving the standard families.

What to watch for: RMA 20 does not behave like EMA 20. It usually feels slower.

WMA

What it is: A weighted average that leans toward recent bars in a more linear way than EMA.

Settings that matter: Length

Context: Think of it as a middle ground between SMA's equal weighting and EMA's more aggressive recency bias.

When people use it: When they want a modest speed-up from SMA without going all the way to EMA's feel.

What to watch for: WMA is useful precisely because it is not dramatic. Do not over-mythologize it.

VWMA

What it is: A moving average that weights price by volume, so high-participation bars count more.

Settings that matter: Length

Context: This is for traders who want participation to matter, not just price travel.

When people use it: Stocks, futures, crypto, or other markets where volume genuinely helps explain price behavior.

What to watch for: On instruments with weak, missing, or meaningless volume data, VWMA can mislead you or go blank.

HMA

What it is: A lag-reduced moving average built to stay smooth while turning faster than the basics.

Settings that matter: Length

Context: HMA exists because a lot of traders want the line to turn sooner without feeling like raw price.

When people use it: Faster structure reads, quicker trend shifts, and situations where SMA and EMA both feel late.

What to watch for: HMA can hook and overshoot. That quickness is the point, but it also means the line can look cleaner in hindsight than it feels live.

ALMA

What it is: A Gaussian-weighted moving average with extra controls that let you shape where the weight sits and how tightly it clusters.

Settings that matter: Length, ALMA Offset, ALMA Sigma, ALMA Floor Offset?

Context: This is one of the cleaner "power user" options because the extra controls actually map to a felt difference in the line.

When people use it: When they want a smoother line without giving up as much responsiveness, or when they want to tune the line more deliberately than SMA or EMA allows.

What to watch for: Do not change Length, Offset, and Sigma all at once unless you want to lose track of cause and effect.

How the extra settings feel: Higher Offset shifts the weighting toward newer bars. Higher Sigma spreads the bell out and smooths the line more. Floor Offset? is a subtle behavior change most traders can leave alone.

SWMA

What it is: A symmetrically weighted moving average with a fixed 4-bar window.

Settings that matter: None beyond selecting it. Length is ignored.

Context: This is not a normal variable-length moving average. It is a fixed short filter.

When people use it: Rarely, and usually because they want that specific 4-bar behavior rather than a general-purpose smoother.

What to watch for: This is easy to misuse. If you choose SWMA and set Length to 50, it still behaves like a 4-bar smoother.

Faster or differently shaped types

DEMA

What it is: A double-EMA construction built to reduce lag compared with a normal EMA.

Settings that matter: Length

Context: One of the classic answers to "EMA still feels late."

When people use it: When they want a faster trend line than EMA without jumping into a fully adaptive or highly specialized filter.

What to watch for: More speed also means more chance of overshoot and false urgency in choppy conditions.

TEMA

What it is: A triple-EMA construction that pushes the lower-lag idea even harder than DEMA.

Settings that matter: Length

Context: This is basically the same impulse as DEMA, taken a step further.

When people use it: When DEMA still feels a little late and they are willing to tolerate a more aggressive line.

What to watch for: TEMA can get busy fast. If the chart starts feeling jumpy, that is the tradeoff showing up.

TRIMA

What it is: A triangular moving average that smooths the smoother. Very calm. Very deliberate.

Settings that matter: Length

Context: This belongs to the "I want less noise, even if that means more delay" family.

When people use it: Slow structure work, higher-timeframe bias, and situations where a restless line does more harm than good.

What to watch for: If you are hoping for early turns, TRIMA is usually the wrong tool.

LSMA

What it is: A least-squares or regression-style moving average. It is tracking the fitted slope of recent price, not just averaging values in the usual way.

Settings that matter: Length

Context: LSMA often feels different because it is not behaving like a standard weighted average.

When people use it: When slope and directional structure matter more than simple smoothing, or when they want a line that reacts more to the shape of recent movement.

What to watch for: LSMA can look like it leads price or cuts through it in strange places. That is part of the package, not a bug.

T3MA

What it is: Tillson's T3. A heavily smoothed multi-stage EMA construction.

Settings that matter: Length

Context: This was built for traders who wanted something polished and smooth without using a plain slow average.

When people use it: When they want a cleaner line than EMA-family choices usually give, and they are willing to accept a slower turn.

What to watch for: T3 can feel beautifully smooth right up until you realize how much delay you accepted to get that smoothness.

ZLEMA

What it is: A zero-lag EMA variant that tries to remove some of EMA's delay before applying the smoothing.

Settings that matter: Length

Context: This is one of the better-known lower-lag EMA extensions.

When people use it: When they want EMA-like behavior with a bit less delay.

What to watch for: Less lag is not free. ZLEMA can feel sharper and less forgiving in noisy conditions.

ZLMA

What it is: A zero-lag style moving average from Axiom's Pro set with its own recursive behavior.

Settings that matter: Length

Context: This is one of the Pro set's custom or approximation entries. It is not the same thing as ZLEMA just because the names look related.

When people use it: When they want a fast line and specifically like this version's feel after testing it.

What to watch for: Do not assume ZLMA and ZLEMA are interchangeable. They are different tools wearing similar names.

MCGINLEY

What it is: A self-adjusting moving average that tries to keep up with price speed more naturally than a fixed-speed average.

Settings that matter: Length

Context: McGinley exists because normal moving averages have a habit of falling behind when price starts moving hard.

When people use it: When they want some adaptive behavior without adding extra knobs beyond Length.

What to watch for: It can hug price more tightly than expected. If you were hoping for a calm anchor line, McGinley may feel busier than the name suggests.

Adaptive and filter-based types

KAMA

What it is: Kaufman's Adaptive Moving Average. It changes speed based on how directional or noisy recent movement has been.

Settings that matter: Length, KAMA Fast, KAMA Slow

Context: KAMA is one of the cleaner adaptive ideas: speed up when the move is efficient, slow down when the market is messy.

When people use it: When they want one line to shift gears between trend and chop instead of holding the same smoothing speed all the time.

What to watch for: KAMA is still just a filter. It does not magically solve chop. The Fast and Slow settings matter a lot, especially if you widen the gap too far.

JMA

What it is: A Jurik-style moving average approximation from Axiom's Pro set.

Settings that matter: Length, Jurik Phase, Jurik Power

Context: Jurik-style filters are popular because traders want the holy grail combination of smooth and fast. This version is Axiom's approximation of that family, not the proprietary Jurik algorithm.

When people use it: When they specifically want that smoother low-lag feel and are willing to tune it carefully.

What to watch for: Phase and Power can change the line's personality a lot. Also, if you are comparing it to some other vendor's "JMA," do not assume they should match one for one.

FRAMA

What it is: A Fractal Adaptive Moving Average approximation that changes speed based on the roughness or smoothness of price structure.

Settings that matter: Length, KAMA/FRAMA Fast, KAMA/FRAMA Slow

Context: This is another adaptive family, but it is not adapting for the same reason KAMA does.

When people use it: When they want an adaptive line that keys off price structure rather than just a fixed smoothing speed.

What to watch for: In Axiom's implementation, FRAMA's adaptive speed is driven by price bar structure. It is less of a generic plug-in smoother than KAMA. It is also an approximation, not a promise of parity with every outside FRAMA.

LAGUERRE

What it is: A filter-style moving average controlled by a damping factor called Laguerre Alpha.

Settings that matter: Laguerre Alpha

Context: This comes from the filter side of technical analysis rather than the usual "pick a length" MA family.

When people use it: When they specifically want a smooth filter that can stay responsive without behaving like a normal moving average.

What to watch for: Length does not control this type. If you keep changing Length and nothing happens, that is because Laguerre Alpha is the real control.

How the extra setting feels: Lower Laguerre Alpha produces heavier smoothing. Higher Laguerre Alpha makes the line more responsive and noisier.

VAMA

What it is: A volatility-adjusted moving average from Axiom's Pro set.

Settings that matter: Length, VAMA Vol Length

Context: This is one of the custom Axiom variants. There is no single universal VAMA formula everyone agrees on.

When people use it: When they want the line to respond to changing volatility conditions, not just price level changes.

What to watch for: Despite the setting name, this version is about volatility or deviation, not exchange volume. Also, because VAMA is not a single standard formula across the industry, comparing it to some other "VAMA" can get messy fast.

A good way to test Pro types honestly

• Keep the same chart section in view.

• Keep the same Length unless the type does not use length.

• Flip between two types.

• If the type has extra controls, leave them at defaults first.

• Ask one question at a time: Which line turns earlier? Which one stays calmer in chop? Which one gets faked out more easily? Which one only looks good because it is late?

That is enough. You do not need a mythology around moving averages. You need a clean comparison and a reason for the choice.