Alphabet's stock just triggered a 'death cross.' Could the worst of the selloff be over?

By Christine Ji and Tomi Kilgore A postearnings skid sent the Google parent's shares sliding into bearish territory, but some trading signals hint at a turnaround Alphabet has managed to bounce back from four of its past five "death crosses" over the last decade, posting an average gain of 21.9% six months later. Shares of Alphabet had already been trending downwards for months as investors questioned the company's artificial-intelligence strategy. But a third-quarter earnings miss is sparking the stock's worst single-day drop ever on Thursday - and triggering a bearish technical signal known as a "death cross." A death cross occurs when a stock's short-term moving average, typically represented by the 50-day simple moving average, falls below a long-term moving average like the 200-day simple moving average. That means Alphabet's (GOOGL) (GOOG) recent performance has grown significantly weaker than its performance over most of the past year. Through Wednesday, Alphabet's 50-day moving average had managed to stay above its 200-day average for 319 consecutive trading days. That streak finally broke on Thursday following an earnings report that showed a deceleration in the company's core search business. Alphabet's 50-day moving average dropped to $340.26, falling below its 200-day moving average of $340.93, according to FactSet data. The stock is down nearly 18% since the beginning of October. Keep in mind that moving-average crossovers, such as the death cross, aren't necessarily meant to be good market-timing signals, as they are often well telegraphed. They're calculated from historical closing prices, which makes them lagging indicators. What they do, however, is acknowledge that the trend has lasted long enough and gone far enough, or a combination both, to be considered a long-term trend. While a death cross can signal that a downward trend is likely to continue, that hasn't always been the case for Alphabet. The stock has experienced five death crosses in the past decade, and shares went on to trade higher six months later in four of those five instances, averaging a 21.9% gain, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The last death cross in Alphabet's stock appeared on April 8, 2025, after the stock had tumbled 29.9% from a previous record close in two months. It just so happened that the death cross appeared on the same day that the selloff bottomed out. The one before that appeared on March 9, 2022, after shares had shed 11% from a previous record high hit four months earlier. That downtrend didn't bottom until eight months later, on Nov. 3, 2022, after falling another 37.5%. According to another technical indicator, negative sentiment surrounding Alphabet could be reaching a peak. The stock's 14-day relative strength index (RSI) - a momentum gauge that measures the speed and size of price moves to see whether a stock has become overbought or oversold -has fallen to 23.1, the lowest level since June 2011. Typically, traders consider an RSI of 30 or below as a signal that a stock has been subject to aggressive selling pressure and fallen below its fair value. -Christine Ji -Tomi Kilgore This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

Alphabet's stock just triggered a 'death cross.' Could the worst of the selloff be over?

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