TRIX Indicator: Formula, Settings and How to Read It
TRIX is the bar-to-bar percentage change of a triple-smoothed exponential moving average of the close. It plots as a single line that is positive while the triple average rises and negative while it falls, with a default period of 15.
Senzoukria · Indicators · Updated September 2026
TRIX ships with the Senzoukria desktop app, in the Momentum group of the indicator catalogue. It is drawn in its own panel below the chart.
What TRIX measures
Three exponential averages are applied in sequence, each seeded with a simple moving average and using the classic coefficient of 2 divided by the period plus 1, not Wilder's variant. The final value is the percentage change of the third stage from one bar to the next, which is why the scale is comparable between instruments regardless of their price level. The purpose of the three passes is specific: each one removes another order of noise, so cycles shorter than the period are heavily attenuated while long cycles pass through with almost no phase shift. That makes TRIX a measure of trend momentum rather than a detector of fast reversals. Stages two and three run on the defined portion of the previous stage instead of being seeded back into empty history, so the first value lands at index three times the period minus two, which is index 43 at the default. If the previous third-stage value is zero, no percentage is produced.
The formula, as implemented
This is not a description of how the indicator is usually defined elsewhere — it is what the shipped code computes, documented next to the implementation:
TRIX (Jack Hutson, 1980) — taux de variation de la TRIPLE EMA, en POURCENT : e1 = EMA_N(close) ; e2 = EMA_N(e1) ; e3 = EMA_N(e2) TRIX = 100 · (e3[i] − e3[i−1]) / e3[i−1] EMA à GRAINE SMA (`helpers.emaSeries`, α = 2/(N+1)) — pas de Wilder : c'est l'EMA classique, la convention du repo (parité TradingView/ATAS), et les deux étages suivants tournent sur le SUFFIXE défini du précédent (`suffixEma`) plutôt que sur une graine reculée dans le vide. POURQUOI trois étages : chaque EMA élimine un ordre de bruit ; la triple EMA a un déphasage quasi nul sur les cycles longs et écrase les cycles plus courts que N — TRIX est donc un momentum de TENDANCE, pas un détecteur de retournement rapide. Sortie en % pour être comparable d'un instrument à l'autre. Défaut N=15 (Hutson). Warm-up : 3·(N−1) barres pour e3, plus 1 pour la variation → premier point à l'indice 3N − 2. e3[i−1] NUL → null (division par zéro déguisée refusée).
How to read it
- Above zero, the triple-smoothed average is rising; below zero, it is falling. The line answers a question about the smoothed series, not about the last close.
- A zero crossing is the point where the smoothed average changed direction, which has already happened by the time it plots.
- The steepness of the line is the rate of change of the smoothed average, so a flat positive line describes a steady advance and a rising positive line describes an accelerating one.
- Divergences against price are read on the smoothed series; the triple filter means small counter-moves that would show on a raw momentum line are simply absent here.
- Expect the line to turn late at reversals. That is the intended behaviour of three stacked filters, not a configuration problem.
Parameters and defaults
The period defaults to 15, Hutson's value, accepts 1 to 200, and applies to all three smoothing passes at once. Raising it triples the added warm-up and the added lag, since the cost applies at every stage. Lowering it brings back the short-cycle noise that the triple smoothing was built to remove, which undermines the reason to use TRIX rather than a single exponential average.
| Parameter | Type | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Period | number | 15 | 1 – 200 |
What it does not show
Nothing plots until three times the period minus two bars are available, which rules TRIX out on short histories and on the first bars of a freshly built chart. The indicator is deliberately late at turning points, and no setting removes that without removing the filtering as well. The value is a percentage of a smoothed quantity, so on instruments whose price can approach zero the ratio becomes unstable, and the bar is left undefined when the previous value is exactly zero. Everything it sees is a close, and three filters place it further still from what happened inside those bars.
Using it in Senzoukria
Add it from the Indicators panel of any footprint chart or candle chart. It runs on futures data from Rithmic or Databento and on crypto pairs from Binance and Bybit, on the same engine — the calculation does not change with the venue, only the data feeding it does. Market data subscriptions are billed by the provider, separately from the app.
Related indicators
- Williams %R — Momentum
- Momentum — Momentum
- MFI — Momentum
- TSI — Momentum
- ADX/DMI — Momentum
- Vortex — Momentum
See the full indicator library, or start with the order flow guide if you are new to reading aggression, delta and absorption.
Frequently asked questions
- What does a positive TRIX value mean?
- It means the triple exponential average of the close rose from the previous bar to this one, and the value states by what percentage. It describes the direction and pace of the smoothed series, not the size of the last price move, and it can remain positive through pullbacks that the filtering removes.
- Why does TRIX use three exponential averages?
- Each smoothing pass attenuates another order of short-cycle noise. Applying three in sequence removes cycles shorter than the period almost entirely, while long cycles pass through with very little phase shift. The result describes trend momentum rather than short-term fluctuation.
- How many bars does TRIX need before it plots?
- Three times the period minus two, because each of the three smoothing stages consumes its own warm-up and the final percentage change needs one additional bar. At the default period of 15 the first value lands at index 43 of the series.