Kaufman Moving Average Adaptive (KAMA) Everyone wants a short-term, fast trading trend that works without large
losses. That combination does not exist. But it is possible to have fast
trading trends in which one must get in or out of the market quickly, but
these have the distinct disadvantage of being whipsawed by market noise
when the market is volatile in a sideways trending market. During these
periods, the trader is jumping in and out of positions with no profit-making
trend in sight. In an attempt to overcome the problem of noise and still be
able to get closer to the actual change of the trend, Kaufman developed an
indicator that adapts to market movement. This indicator, an adaptive moving
average (AMA), moves very slowly when markets are moving sideways but moves
swiftly when the markets also move swiftly, change directions or break out of
a trading range.
