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On Balance Volume

The on balance volume indicator (OBV) displays a running total of volume. The volume for bars where the price increases is added to the running total, and the volume for bars where the price decreases is subtracted.

On Balance Volume Example

The idea behind OBV is that volume precedes price. In this example, three days of falling prices on increased volume had already caused a break in OBV immediately preceeding the large breakdown in price:

On Balance Volume

Profitspi charts include an exponential moving average of OBV to give a smoothed view as well as a comparison to actual OBV.

On Balance Volume Parameters

There are no parameters for the on balance volume.

EMA Period - the number of bars for the EMA overlay (default 9)

On Balance Volume Calculation

The calculation for each bar is as follows:

If Close Price > previous Close Price, add Volume to running total

If Close Price < previous Close Price, subtract Volume from running total

If Close Price = previous Close Price, no change to running total

The actual OBV total is less important than the trend and will differ depending on how many bars worth of data is used in the calculation. Profitspi uses at least 5 years worth of data for daily charts. So, even though you are looking at a 3 month daily chart the OBV value is a running total for 5 years. Other chart applications may use more or less information for their calculations.

Try an on balance volume chart or an on balance volume screen.


Average Volume

Median Price

Momentum

On Balance Volume

Cumulative Price Change %

Price Change %

Rate of Change

Typical Price

Weighted Close

 

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