Zero lag exponential moving average

The zero lag exponential moving average (ZLEMA) is a technical indicator within technical analysis that aims is to eliminate the inherent lag associated to all trend following indicators which average a price over time. As is the case with the double exponential moving average (DEMA) and the triple exponential moving average (TEMA) this indicator aims to reduce the lag.

History[edit]

The indicator was created by John Ehlers and Ric Way around 2010.^[1]

Formula[edit]

The formula for a given N-Day period and for a given data series is:^[2][3]

${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{\textit {Lag}}&={\frac {Period-1}{2}}\\{\textit {EmaData}}&={\textit {Data}}+({\textit {Data}}-{\textit {Data}}({\text{Lag days ago}}))\\{\textit {ZLEMA}}&={\textit {EMA}}({\textit {EmaData}},{\textit {Period}})\end{aligned}}}$

The idea is do a regular exponential moving average (EMA) calculation but on a de-lagged data instead of doing it on the regular data. Data is de-lagged by removing the data from "lag" days ago thus removing (or attempting to) the cumulative effect of the moving average.

References[edit]