50-Day Moving Average

A widely followed technical indicator that plots the average closing price of a security over the last 50 trading days. Traders use it as a short-to-intermediate trend gauge -- when a stock trades above its 50-day MA, sentiment is generally bullish. A "death cross" occurs when the 50-day falls below the 200-day moving average, and a "golden cross" is the reverse, both of which generate heavy media attention.