The moving average (MA) is calculated by collecting the price of an asset over a given period of time, adding up those values, and dividing it by the number of price points. Moving averages can be calculated for price highs, lows, and real averages. For example, a stock’s highs for the past five days were $42.25, $42.56, $44.81, $41.05, and $41.96. The sum of these highs ($212.63) divided by five is your price-high MA of $42.53.