Golden Cross / Death Cross

A golden cross occurs when a shorter-term moving average (commonly the 50-period) crosses above a longer-term moving average (commonly the 200-period), widely read as a bullish signal that a new uptrend may be forming. A death cross is the mirror-image bearish signal — the shorter moving average crossing below the longer one. Both are lagging signals by nature, since moving averages themselves lag price, so they tend to confirm a trend shift well after it has already begun rather than predict it early.