Presented by Tim Tillson in the January 1998 issue of Stocks & Commodities, the Tillson moving average (TMA) is also known as T3. Our version is coded in a more efficient way and allows for selecting the Fulks-Matulich formula as well.
Indicator Description
The Tillson moving average a.k.a. the Tillson T3 indicator is one of the smoothest moving averages and is both composite and adaptive. The average is built using the EMA however, the formula is decomposed in order to improve smoothing.
You may use the indicator to generate buy/sell as follows:
- If sloping up, buy when prices retrace back down to T3
- If sloping down, sell when prices retrace back up to T3
- Use two T3 indicators and generate buy signals when the fast average crosses above the slow, and vice versa for short signals.
Using the Tillson T3
The Tillson T3 may be used in combination with other tools for technical analysis, such as channel indicators, momentum oscillators, support / resistance levels and volume analysis. For channel indicators, you may review the Commodity Channel Index, Donchican Channel or the Squeeze Channel. A Donchian Channel Strategy was reviewed in our Indicator Spotlight, as was the Squeeze Momentum setup. Furthermore, the Indicator Spotlight looked at how the Ichimoku Cloud can be used for trend and momentum entries. A library version of the Ichimoku indicator is also available.
For support / resistance, you may consider using Daily Pivot Levels as discussed in our in our Indicator Spotlight. A number of Pivot indicators are available from the Session Tools category, including the Daily Pivots, Weekly Pivots, Monthly Pivots and the N-Monthly Pivots.
One may locate additional support resistance levels using the Average Range for a daily, weekly or monthly lookback period. This may for example be done using a ADR indicator, alternatively the Weekly Range Projections / Monthly Range Projections. The Indicator Spotlight furthermore reviewed the Average Daily Range Projections.
For volume you may consider Force Index or Relative Volume analysis. Our NinjaTrader Relative Volume indicator was discussed in our Indicator Spotlight. For instruments that lack reliable volume information (FX/Crypto currencies), you may consider analyzing Relative Ranges. Our Relative Range indicator was also reviewed in the Indicator Spotlight.
Other Library Indicators
Other that the Tillson T3, our moving average category includes among others the ALMA, DWMA, Exponential Hull Moving Average, Holt EMA, Moving Average Wave, MA Cross and the Trigger Lines. The Indicator Spotlight Newsletter also discussed the Trigger Lines Cross vs. Thrust Trend Definition.
Additionally, you may want to review our Trend Analysis and Trend Filters, such as the ADX, ADXVMA Plus, Coral Filter, Directional Movement Index (DMI), Distant Coefficient Filter, MAAF, Efficiency Ratio, Butterworth Filter, Gaussian Filter, Laguerre Filter, Rainbow Filter, Supersmoother Filter and the Supertrend indicator.
The Tillson T3 indicator is available for NinjaTrader 8.
