On Balance Volume Technical Indicators Analytics

It provides traders with a more reliable read of BTC pairs price movement than the often uncorrelated USD market cap standard. Because it must read data coming from 35 markets, SHIT35 is painfully slow and should be kept hidden most of the time. Its features will hopefully seduce traders how much to start swing trading in using it nonetheless for… Volume Zone Oscillator is an indicator that presents a different way of looking at OBV. VZO is a difference between OBV and an exponential moving average. And in this way we can observe the strength of the movements, overbought and oversold and divergences.

A high OBV indicates positive volume pressure looking forward to higher prices. Likewise, decreasing OBV refers to negative volume pressure anticipating lower prices. The on-balance volume formula is similar to the accumulation/distribution line. Both are momentum indicators that predict money movement by studying volume. It is plotted on a price chart, but the individual quantitative value remains irrelevant.

Murphy covers all the major charts patterns and indicators, including OBV. A complete chapter is devoted to understanding volume and open interest. When price continues to make lower troughs and OBV fails to make lower troughs, the downward trend is likely to stall or fail. When price continues to make higher peaks and OBV fails to make higher peaks, the upward trend is likely to stall or fail. During a trading range, if the OBV is falling, distribution may be taking place—a warning of a downward breakout. Another note of caution in using the OBV is that a large spike in volume on a single day can throw off the indicator for quite a while.

• Non-confirmations can occur at bull market tops or at bear market bottoms .
• According to him, volume defines how the financial markets work, and the price movements occur based majorly on volume.
• Volume shows crowd sentiment as price bars carve out patterns that predict a bullish or bearish outcome.
• Trading in CFDs carry a high level of risk thus may not be appropriate for all investors.
• As we discussed in our section defining OBV, it shows us changes in volume.
• Volume on an up period is added to the total, while volume on a down period is subtracted.

Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master’s in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Based on our research and the results we found during testing, the OBV indicator is a versatile indicator for multiple use cases.

On-Balance Volume Reveals Market Player Strategy

Entry for long can be taken when green bar appears; and exit has to be done when it disappears. Entry for short has to be taken when red bar appears; and exit has to be done when it disappears. When both price and OBV are making lower peaks and lower troughs, the downward trend is likely to continue. When both price and OBV are making higher peaks and higher troughs, the upward trend is likely to continue. On-Balance Volume is an indicator that measures momentum. It was created in 1932 by Joseph Granville, making its first appearance in his book Granville’s New Key to Stock Market Profits.

The second chart shows Valero Energy with OBV forming a bearish divergence in April and a confirming support break in May. OBV rises when volume on up days outpaces volume on down days. A rising OBV reflects positive volume pressure that can lead to higher prices. Conversely, falling OBV reflects negative volume pressure that can foreshadow lower prices. Granville noted in his research that OBV would often move before price. Expect prices to move higher if OBV is rising while prices are either flat or moving down.

Formula for Calculating On-Balance Volume

The formula for the Acc/Dist, without getting too complicated, is that it uses the position of the current price relative to its recent trading range and multiplies it by that period’s volume. On-balance volume is a technical indicator of momentum, using volume changes to make price predictions. If the current close is above the previous close, the current bar’s volume is added to the total.

Although OBV was first described in the context of the stock market, nowadays it is widely used in trading a big variety of assets, such as commodities, forex, etc. On-balance volume is a technical analysis indicator intended to relate price and volume in the stock market. When the security closes higher than the previous close, all of the day’s volume is considered up-volume. When the security closes lower than the previous close, all of the day’s volume is considered down-volume. To increase the efficiency of your trading strategy it’s possible to use the on-balance value together with other technical indicators. One of the popular combinations consists of OBV and Moving Average .

The OBV shows an upward trend whenever a new high or low exceeds the previous one. In the reverse case, a lower high or low indicates a downtrend. The changing in the OBV from an upward to a downward trend is called a breakout. In the OBV analysis, it is started from the assumption that OBV breakouts precede the instrument breakouts, but that there is very little time to act. Rather, it monitors market sentiment for you, and it can alert you to a changing situation. This alert may be used as a signal to taking a long position on upside breakouts, and selling short when the OBV makes a downside breakout.

Calculation

SBUX broke resistance a week later and continued above 20 for a 30+ percent gain. The second chart shows OBV moving higher as Texas Instruments trades within a range. Rising OBV during a trading range indicates accumulation, which is bullish. In other words, 8,200 really equals 8,200,000 or 8.2 million shares. First, we must determine if Wal-Mart closed up (+1) or down (-1). This number is now used as the volume multiplier to compute positive or negative volume.

There’s a lack of trading strategies that take advantage of this indicator, this leads to trading opportunities by thinking outside the box and leveraging the full capabilities of the OBV indicator. There are infinite ways of doing so, such as specifying % change thresholds of the OBV’s quantitative value to derive signals. We were able to produce profitable strategies by making use of Tuned’s batch testing feature to find optimal threshold values. In sideways markets, this strategy is prone to whipsaws, triggering too many signals. Due to the nature of it being a cumulative indicator, different starting points greatly affect the quantitative OBV value. With any trading strategy, you should conduct extensive testing before you risk real money.

Summary

That’s why traders should look for OBV to match the lead price before they take a risk on new breakout or breakdown positions. OBV takes difference between old close and new close and multiplies by volume without considering high and low. This assigns the entire volume into a single direction even tho movement could’ve been in both. Accum/dist takes difference between close and high and low without considering previous close or open.

As we discussed in our section defining OBV, it shows us changes in volume. The significance of those changes is best understood in context of what we see happening with price. I am currently retooling various indicators I coded for TOS using Thinkscript and have had great success except for one so far. I searched through the RTL reference pages and forums but could not quite find the solution. OBV Period -Number of periods over which to sum the up and down volumes.

Likewise, the On Balance Volume is in a falling trend when each successive peak is lower than the previous peak and each successive trough is lower than the previous trough. When the OBV is moving sideways and is not making successive highs and lows, it is in a doubtful trend. Fundamental analysis is one dowmarkets of the methods of predicting the market value of stocks and other assets, based on data analysis. This article will help you learn the type, methodology, and examples of FA. Alan Farley is a writer and contributor for TheStreet and the editor of Hard Right Edge, one of the first stock trading websites.

In the case of on-balance volume, it is calculated by summing the volume on an up-day and subtracting the volume on a down-day. Analysts look to volume numbers on the OBV to track large,institutional investors. For example, institutional money may drive up the price of an asset, then sell after other investors jump on the bandwagon. Granville believed that volume was the key force behind markets and designed OBV to project when major moves in the markets would occur based on volume changes. On Balance Volume is a line that plots the cumulative total of tick volume or exchange volume if exchange volume is available. OBV is a measure of accumulation/distribution and may be predictive of trends.

On the price chart, SBUX moved below its June low with a lower low in early July. OBV, on the other hand, held above its June low to form a bullish divergence. OBV went on to break resistance before SBUX broke resistance.

The strategy is not very planned to highlight where to enter and when to exit as it is just a system. So, it is always good practice to follow the signal of simple moving averages and that is the reason you could find those color lines… OBV provides fair feedback on major highs and lows and is very useful in measuring the breakout and breakdown potentials. In addition, it predicts bearish divergence depending on the rally.

Indeed, for that reason, you should be cautious if you are using it during any time of high volatility, even on a slower time frame. So, for instance, when economic reports are released, you might have a harder justforex time getting reliable results with OBV. In some cases, it shows us when an existing trend is still going strong. In other cases, it lets us know that trend may be slowing down and reversing direction.

Likewise, investors should sell short when the OBV makes a downside breakout. The basic assumption, regarding On Balance Volume analysis, is that OBV changes precede price changes. The theory is that smart money can be seen flowing into the security by a rising OBV. When the public then moves into the security, both the security and the On Balance Volume will surge ahead. When both the on-balance volume and the closing price bars are making higher highs, there is a possibility that an uptrend will continue.