Tells Me: The price is generally in an established trend (bullish or bearish) for the time horizon represented by the moving average period (21, 50 or 200 bars). Moving averages are used to smooth out the volatility or "noise" in the price series, to make it easier to discover the underlying trend. By plotting the average price over the last several bars, the line is less "jerky" than plotting the actual prices. A bullish event is generated when the price crosses above the moving average, and in this state, the price is likely in an established uptrend. The opposite is true when the price crosses below the moving average, triggered a bearish event.

Tells Me: The price is relatively far from its 20-bar average price. The Commodity Channel Index (CCI) measures the deviation of the price from its average value (comparing to a chosen moving average, typically 20 bars). The oscillator is normalized by dividing by the typical deviation, so we get an oscillator fluctuating roughly between +100 and -100. Many traders use these as overbought(+100)/oversold(-100) markers and watch for signs of reversal, but original use was to consider long positions when CCI is above +100 (bullish event), and short when below -100 (bearish event). When the price crosses back in between +100 and -100, another event is triggered to indicate an end to the prior bullish or bearish situation and a possible opportunity to close out such a position.