Repainting Moving Averages?

Hi
I've been scratching my head about repainting.
Does repainting occur purely on the most recent bar or two?
Or does it shift the entire historical position of the MA?
I'm asking for backtesting purposes, rather than for forward testing/demoing?
For instance, looking at a 60MA on a 5minute chart, is the data further back usable, or is it constantly, gradually shifting?
Thanks.

It repaints only until the last bar has closed and only for the last bar. It cannot repaint after that because it represents an average of n values that are constant through time. The price from 60 minutes ago won't ever change.

Thanks for that.
As I don't have much experience with MA's it probably seemed a daft question!
Appreciated.

But pay attention if you ever use MTF-MAs... cause they do repaint!

Sorry, but not all MTF MAs repaint...depends on how they are coded.

Repainting seems to be one of the most misunderstood yet simple ideas in the Forex world. Good to see a forum with calm reasoned discussion and none of the emotion I have seen on others.

Hmmm... yep indeed - if you take the closed bar for the higher timeframes then you won't have any repainting....!

PANIC - REPAINT - PANIC - REPAINT - OMG everything repaints

Just because something 'repaints' doesn't automatically make it worthless, or mean that it can't be used profitably. It simply means that its historical plot on the charts changes over time, which distorts its accuracy in any kind of 'visual backtesting'. When trading in real time, the important value is the current one, at the 'right hand edge' of the chart.

Linear Regression Channel (which comes as part of the MT4 package) is an example of a perfectly valid and usable study that 'repaints'. Trendlines 'repaint' as they get redrawn, as additional points can enhance the validity of their definition. The strength and S/R indys that I devised likewise 'repaint', yet I rate them as being among the most valuable tools in my trading toolbox. Once again, this stresses that it isn't the tool itself that's important, but the way in which the trader uses the information that it provides.

nightyhawk - Well, I don't know what to tell you. Here is a screen shot of H1 EMA on a M5 chart.

The yellow MA is the regular MTF MA you can find all over the place. It repaints during the "life" of the H1 candle.

The purple MA is the MTF MA I utilize. It shows the H1 MA as it was at the close of each M5 candle. It repaints during the "life" of the M5 candle, not the H1 candle.

The bottom indicator is a bar chart of the H1 MA on the M5 chart. It shows the range of the H1 MA during the "life" of each M5 candle.

These tools enable visual backtesting of MTF MAs to be quite accurate and do not repaint during the life of the higher timeframe, only during the lower timeframe (which is unavoidable until the candle is closed).

Best of luck!