what is the difference between a simple moving average and an exponential moving average 
while a simple moving average gives equal weight to each of the values within a time period an exponential moving average places greater weight on recent prices exponential moving averages are typically seen as a more timely indicator of a price trend and because of this many traders prefer using this over a simple moving average common short term exponential moving averages include the 12 day and 26 day the 50 day and 200 day exponential moving averages are used to indicate long term trends 