What is the EMA Ribbon 8/21/50 strategy?

Long only while three averages are stacked in order. Go long when EMA(8) is above EMA(21) and EMA(21) is above EMA(50). Exit the long when EMA(8) is below EMA(21).

Did EMA Ribbon 8/21/50 beat buy and hold?

On the Crypto basket, 4h bars, after fees: +205% against +518% for holding, with a maximum drawdown of -45.0%.

Strategies / S08

EMA Ribbon 8/21/50

Long only while three averages are stacked in order.

Watch it trade Download Practice it Open charts

Results

Market class	Return	Holding	Sharpe	Max DD	Win rate	Trades
Crypto, 4h	+205%	+518%	0.61	-45.0%	29.4%	4,613
Stocks, 1d	+2,089%	+28K%	1.05	-25.7%	38.2%	1,072
Forex, 1d	-5.5%	+3.1%	-0.04	-23.9%	35.4%	610
Commodities, 1d	+230%	+1,833%	0.43	-33.0%	36.1%	563
Indices, 1d	+169%	+878%	0.51	-17.3%	37.2%	626

The exact rule

Go long when EMA(8) is above EMA(21) and EMA(21) is above EMA(50).
Exit the long when EMA(8) is below EMA(21).
Declared timeframe: 4h.

Explain it with Ask AI (Premium, on a desktop)

Watch it trade

This runs the same engine in your browser on the latest candles, with your own costs. Press Replay to watch every entry and exit arrive bar by bar.

Download

Pine ScriptFor TradingView Paper botRuns on the Bot API, no real money Python backtestOne file, no dependencies READMEThe rule in plain words

Want it to run by itself? Read the automate guide, and use paper money first.

Related strategies

Hull TrendLong while the Hull moving average is rising.MACD CrossLong from the MACD crossing its signal line until it crosses back.MACD Zero LineLong while MACD is above zero, a slower read of the same idea.

Research, not advice. Past results do not predict future ones. Results run to 2026-10-31.