Participants often ask which average is “better.” In the Foundations workshop we treat that as the wrong question. A simple moving average treats every bar equally; an exponential average weights recent closes more heavily. Both lag. Both smooth. The useful difference is how quickly each reacts when a trend bends.
On daily ASX charts we typically start with a 20-period SMA for structure and an EMA of similar length only when a student needs earlier feedback on slope changes. The session ends with a short writing drill: describe the last twenty bars using one average only, then again with both—and notice where language gets noisier.
Training at File Ridge Core stays educational. Nothing in these notes is a recommendation to buy or sell any instrument.