when gauging the trend or using crossovers the information provided should be used within the context of the entire ichimoku cloud indicator for example if the price is above the cloud a bearish crossover may still be used to sell a long position but it likely wouldn t be used to enter a short position 
the difference between kijun sen base line and a simple moving average sma the kijun sen is a midpoint of the high and low price over the last 26 periods this is not an average a simple moving average is an average price over a set number of periods calculated by adding up the closing prices of those periods and then dividing the total by the number of periods a 26 period base line and a 26 period sma will produce different values and thus provide different information to the trader the limitations of using kijun sen base line unless there s a lot of recent price movement enough to pull the price away from the 26 period midpoint the kijun sen will often trade near and intersect with the price at times like these it is not an ideal tool for helping with trend direction if the price is crossing the base line repeatedly the other ichimoku indicators are needed to provide clarity on the larger or longer term trend direction while some crossover signals with the tenkan sen will result in large and profitable price moves others may not the price may fail to move as expected or the indicator may cross back the other way generating a false signal while the kijun sen does provide some information on its own it is best used in conjunction with the other ichimoku indicators in addition traders are also encouraged to use price action analysis other technical tools and fundamental analysis 