Accumulation/distribution index

Accumulation/distribution index is a technical analysis

Technical analysis

In finance, technical analysis is security analysis discipline for forecasting the direction of prices through the study of past market data, primarily price and volume. Behavioral economics and quantitative analysis incorporate technical analysis, which being an aspect of active management stands...

 indicator intended to relate price and volume in the stock market

Stock market

A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...

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Formula

This ranges from -1 when the close is the low of the day, to +1 when it's the high. For instance if the close is 3/4 the way up the range then CLV is +0.5. The accumulation/distribution index adds up volume multiplied by the CLV factor, i.e.

The starting point for the acc/dist total, i.e. the zero point, is arbitrary, only the shape of the resulting indicator is used, not the actual level of the total.

The name accumulation/distribution comes from the idea that during accumulation buyers are in control and the price will be bid up through the day, or will make a recovery if sold down, in either case more often finishing near the day's high than the low. The opposite applies during distribution.

The accumulation/distribution index is similar to on balance volume, but acc/dist is based on the close within the day's range, instead of the close-to-close up or down that the latter uses.

Chaikin oscillator

A Chaikin oscillator is formed by subtracting a 10-day exponential moving average from a 3-day exponential moving average of the accumulation/distribution index. Being an indicator of an indicator, it can give various sell or buy signals, depending on the context and other indicators.

Similar indicators

Other Price × Volume indicators:

• Money Flow
  Money Flow
  Money Flow Index is an oscillator calculated over an N-day period, ranging from 0 to 100, showing money flow on up days as a percentage of the total of up and down days. Money flow in technical analysis is typical price multiplied by volume, a kind of approximation to the dollar value of a day's...
  
  
• On-balance Volume
• Price and Volume Trend
  Price and Volume Trend
  Volume–price trend is a technical analysis indicator intended to relate price and volume in the stock market...
  
  

See also

• Dimensional analysis
  Dimensional analysis
  In physics and all science, dimensional analysis is a tool to find or check relations among physical quantities by using their dimensions. The dimension of a physical quantity is the combination of the basic physical dimensions which describe it; for example, speed has the dimension length per...
  
  - explains why volume and price are multiplied (not divided) in such indicators