AccumulationDistribution
Running total of volume signed by where each bar closed in its range. A rising line means buying pressure is building.
For each bar, the line scores where the close landed inside the bar's high-low range: +1 at the high, -1 at the low, 0 mid-range. It multiplies that score by the bar's volume and adds the result to a running total. Bars with no range (high equal to low) add nothing. The total starts at zero on the first bar the indicator runs on, so only its direction and turns carry meaning.
How to read it
- The line sits in its own pane below the price, not on the candles.
- Rising while price is flat or falling: bars keep closing near their highs on volume, so buying pressure is building.
- Falling while price rises: bars keep closing near their lows on volume, selling into strength that can precede a pullback.
- Read the slope and the turns. The level depends on where the history starts, so do not compare numbers across charts.
What it outputs
- Accumulation / Distribution
- Running total of volume weighted by where each bar closed in its range. Only the slope and turns matter; the level depends on the start of the history.
Pitfalls
- The total is cumulative from the first bar it runs on, so its level is arbitrary. On SPY one-minute bars for September 2026 it ranged from about -12.3M to +8.3M, and a different start shifts the line.
- Each bar is weighted by volume, so one heavy-volume bar can produce a step far larger than its neighbours. Check the bars behind a sudden kink before trusting it.
- Over the same month the line correlated only 0.22 with the close, so a divergence against price is weak evidence on its own.