Technical Glossary

Accumulation/Distribution - Weighted volume indicator based on the one-day change in price divided by the current day's range. Generally, the ADI moves in the direction of price.

Aroon - An indicator system that can be used to determine whether or not a stock is trending and the strength of its trend.

Aroon Oscillator - signals an upward trend when it rises above zero and a downward trend when it falls below zero. The farther away the oscillator is from the zero line, the stronger the trend. Technical Indicator derived from subtracting Aroon Down from Aroon Up. As Aroon Up and Aroon Down oscillate between 0 and 100, the Aroon Oscillator oscillates between -100 and 100 with zero as the centre crossover line.

Aroon Up/Down - Indicator that signals an upward trend when it rises above zero and a downward trend when it falls below zero. The farther away the oscillator is from the zero line, the stronger the trend.

Average Directional Index - Also know as ADX measures the strength of a trend. ADX ranges between 0 to 100 - the higher the oscillator, the stronger the trend.

Average True Range - An indicator that measures a security's volatility. High ATR values indicate high volatility and may be an indication of panic selling or panic buying. Low ATR readings indicate sideways movement by the stock.

Bollinger Band - measure volatility by placing trading bands around a moving average. These bands are charted usually two standard deviations away from the average, so as the average changes, the value of two standard deviations also changes.

Bollinger Band Width - Indicator that displays the width of Bollinger Bands.

Chaikin Money Flow - Was developed by Marc Chaikin. An oscillator that helps signal if a stock is undergoing accumulation or distribution. It is calculated from the daily readings of the Accumulation Distribution Line. The CMF is unlike a momentum oscillator in that it is not influenced by the daily price change. Instead, the indicator focuses on the location of the close relative to the range for the period (daily or weekly).

Chaikin Oscillator - Indicator that is calculated by subtracting a 10 period exponential moving average from a 3 period moving average of the Accumulation Distribution Line.

Chaikin Volatility - The Chaikin Volatility function determines the volatility of a financial data series using the percent change in a moving average of the high versus low price over a given time.

Close Location Value - The CLV is an indicator based on the location of close related to low and high for the period. It is used to spot the tendency in the price movements.

Commodity Channel Index - The CCI is a timing system that is best applied to commodity contracts, which have cyclical or seasonal tendencies. CCI does not determine the length of cycles - it is designed to detect when such cycles begin and end through the use of a statistical analysis which incorporates a moving average and a divisor reflecting both the possible and actual trading ranges.

Detrended Price Oscillator - The Detrended Price Oscillator compares closing price to a prior moving average, eliminating cycles longer than the moving average.

Donchian Channels - are price channel studies that are available on most charting packages and can be profitably applied by both novice and expert traders. Although the application was intended mostly for the commodity futures market, these channels can also be widely used in the FX market to capture short-term bursts or longer-term trends.

Donchian Channel Width - Indicator that displays the width of Donchian Channels.

Ease of Movement - Highlights the relationship between volume and price changes and is particularly useful for assessing the strength of a trend.

Fast Stochastic - The Stochastic Oscillator is a momentum indicator that shows the location of the current close relative to the high/low range over a set number of periods. The Stochastic Oscillator is made up of two lines that oscillate between a vertical scale of 0 to 100. The %K is the main line and it is drawn as a solid line. The second is the %D line and is a moving average of %K. The %D line is drawn as a dotted line. The Fast Stochastic is the average of the last three %K.

MACD(Moving Average Convergence/Divergence) - The MACD indicator is an oscillator based on two exponential moving averages of a share price. Three lines are shown. The "MACD" line is calculated as the difference between the two moving averages (usually based on 12- and 26- day averages). The "signal" line is a 9-day smoothed average of the standard MACD line, and is sometimes referred to as the "slow" MACD line.

Mass Index - The Mass Index attempts to predict reversals by comparing the trading range (High minus Low) for each period. Reversals are signalled by a bulge in the index line.

Momentum - An oscillator that measures the rate of price change (as opposed to the actual levels themselves). It is calculated by taking price differences for a fixed time interval. This positive or negative value is plotted around a zero line.

Money Flow Index - A volume indicator that combines positive and negative volume with the RSI calculation. Money flow is defined as the typical daily price times today's volume. MFI is the percentage of the total money flow that is up.

Negative Volume Index - The two indicators are based on the assumption that the smart money dominates trading on quiet days and that the uninformed crowd dominates trading on active days.

On Balance Volume - A technical indicator calculated by keeping a running total of the volume. When the price closes higher or lower than the previous day the volume is added or subtracted respectively.

% Price Oscillator - An indicator based on the difference between two moving averages expressed as a percentage. The PPO is found by subtracting the longer moving average from the shorter moving average and then dividing the difference by the longer moving average.

Performance Indicator - This is on the charts in the lower indicators. The Performance indicator compares the close of the first bar/candle in the displayed chart and the latest price in % terms. It is then displayed as a positive or negative value.

% Volume Oscillator - The percentage difference between two moving averages of volume. The oscillator fluctuates above and below zero, and a rising volume oscillator generally indicates increasing volume while a declining oscillator generally indicates declining volume.

Price Volume Trend - Price and Volume Trend (PVT) is a variation of On Balance Volume, used to determine the strength of trends and warn of reversals.

Rate of Change - The Rate of Change is a ratio calculated as the price divided by the price X days ago and displayed as a percentage. The centre line is at 100, so a value below this means that the price was lower X days ago, and a value above this means that the price was higher.

RSI - The Relative Strength Index (RSI) measures a share price relative to itself and its recent history. It is calculated as the average of the prices for days where the price rose divided by the average of the prices for days where the price fell. The RSI ranges between 0 and 100.

Slow Stochastic - The Stochastic Oscillator is a momentum indicator that shows the location of the current close relative to the high/low range over a set number of periods. The Stochastic Oscillator is made up of two lines that oscillate between a vertical scale of 0 to 100. The %K is the main line and it is drawn as a solid line. The second is the %D line and is a moving average of %K. The %D line is drawn as a dotted line. The Fast Stochastic is the average of the last three %K. The Fast Stochastic is the average of the last three %K and a Slow Stochastic is a three day average of the Fast Stochastic.

StochRSI - An oscillator used to identify overbought and oversold readings in RSI (Relative Strength Index). Because RSI can go for extended periods without becoming overbought (above 70) or oversold (below 30), StochRSI provides an alternative means to identify these extremities.

TRIX - A momentum indicator showing the percent rate-of-change of a triple exponentially smoothed moving average. Like other oscillators, TRIX oscillates around a zero line.

Ultimate Oscillator - An oscillator that attempts to combine information for several different time periods into one number. Three different time periods are used, typically a 7-day period, a 14-day period, and a 28-day period. The resulting oscillator is "bounded" in that it moves between 0 and 100 with 50 as the centre line. 70 and 30 are used as overbought/oversold levels.

Volume - This displays the volume of shares traded per day as a bar chart.


Williams %R - A technical indicator which measures overbought/oversold levels in a very similar way to that of an Oscillator indicator, except that %R is plotted upside-down 0% to -100%. Readings in the range of 80 to 100% indicate that the security is oversold while readings in the 0 to 20% range suggest that it is overbought.





Top of Page