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Technical Indicators and Overlays

Technical Indicators are the often squiggly lines found above, below and on-top-of the price information on a technical chart. Indicators that use the same scale as prices are typically plotted on top of the price bars and are therefore referred to as "Overlays."

This section describes the various kinds of technical indicators and overlays that are available here at StockCharts.com.

• Introduction to Technical Indicators and Oscillators - An in-depth introduction to the various kind of technical indicators and oscillators out there. A "must read" article for StockCharts.com users.

Overlays

• Bollinger Bands - A chart overlay that shows the upper and lower limits of 'normal' price movements based on the Standard Deviation of prices.
• Ichimoku Clouds - A comprehensive indicator that defines support and resistance, identifies trend direction, gauges momentum and provides trading signals.
• Keltner Channels - A chart overlay that shows upper and lower limits for price movements based on the Average True Range of prices.
• Moving Averages - Chart overlays that show the 'average' value over time. Both Simple Moving Averages (SMAs) and Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs) are explained.
• Moving Average Envelopes - A chart overlay consisting of a channel formed from simple moving averages.
• Parabolic SAR - A chart overlay that shows reversal points below prices in an uptrend and above prices in a downtrend.
• Price Channels - A chart overlay that shows a channel made from the highest high and lowest low for a given period of time.
• Volume by Price - A chart overlay with a horizontal histogram showing the amount of activity at various price levels.
• Volume-weighted Average Price (VWAP) - An intraday indicator based on total dollar value of all trades for the current day divided by the total trading volume for the current day.
• ZigZag - A chart overlay that shows filtered price movements that are greater than a given percentage.

Indicators

• Accumulation Distribution Line - Combines price and volume to show how money may be flowing into or out of a stock.
• Aroon - Shows whether a stock is trending or oscillating.
• Average Directional Index (ADX) - Shows whether a stock is trending or oscillating.
• Average True Range (ATR) - Measures a stock's volatility.
• Bollinger Bands %B - Shows the relationship between price and Bollinger Bands.
• Bollinger BandWidth - Shows the distance between the upper band and the lower band. .
• Commodity Channel Index (CCI) - Shows a stock's variation from its 'typical' price.
• Chaikin Money Flow - Combines price and volume to show how money may be flowing into or out of a stock. Alternative to Accumulation/Distribution Line.
• Chaikin Oscillator - Combines price and volume to show how money may be flowing into or out of a stock. Based on Accumulation/Distribution Line.
• Detrended Price Oscillator (DPO) - A price oscillator that uses a displaced moving average to identify cycles.
• Force Index - A simple price-and-volume oscillator.
• MACD - A momentum oscillator based on the difference between two EMAs.
• MACD-Histogram - A momentum oscillator that shows the difference between MACD and its signal line.
• Money Flow Index (MFI) - A volume-weighted version of RSI that shows shifts is buying and selling pressure.
• On Balance Volume (OBV) - Combines price and volume in a very simple way to show how money may be flowing into or out of a stock.
• Percentage Price Oscillator (PPO) - A percentage-based version of the MACD indicator.
• Percentage Volume Oscillator - The PPO indicator applied to volume instead of price.
• Price Relative - Technical indicator that compares the performance of two stocks to each other by dividing their price data.
• Rabbitt Q-Rank - Paul Rabbit's proprietary indicator that rates a stock based on technical and fundamental factors.
• Rate of Change (ROC) - Shows the speed at which a stock's price is changing.
• Relative Strength Index (RSI) - Shows how strongly a stock is moving in its current direction.
• Slope - Measures the rise-over-run for a linear regression.
• Standard Deviation (Volatility) - A statistical measure of a stock's volatility.
• Stochastic Oscillator - Shows how a stock's price is doing relative to past movements. Fast, Slow and Full Stochastics are explained.
• StochRSI - Combines Stochastics with the RSI indicator. Helps you see RSI changes more clearly.
• TRIX - A triple-smoothed moving average of price movements.
• Ultimate Oscillator - Combines long-term, mid-term and short-term moving averages into one number.
• William %R - Uses Stochastics to determine overbought and oversold levels.

Market Indicators

• Introduction to Market Indicators - An in-depth introduction to popular market indicators found on StockCharts.com.

• Arms Index (TRIN) - A breadth indicator derived from the AD Ratio and AD Volume Ratio.
• Advance-Decline Line - A cumulative breadth indicator derived from Net Advances.
• Advance-Decline Volume Line - A cumulative breadth indicator derived from Net Advancing Volume.
• Bullish Percent Index - A breadth indicator derived from the percentage of stocks on PnF buy signals.
• High-Low Index - A breadth indicator that shows new highs as a percentage of new highs plus new lows.
• McClellan Oscillator - A MACD type oscillator of Net Advances.
• McClellan Summation Index - A cumulative indicator based on the McClellan Oscillator.
• Net New Highs - A breadth indicator showing the difference between new highs and new lows. Percentage, cumulative and smoothed versions can be used.
• Percent Above Moving Average - A breadth oscillator that measure the percentage of stocks above a specific moving average.
• Put Call Ratio - A sentiment indicator found by dividing put volume by call volume.
• Record High Percent - A 10-day moving average of the High-Low Index, which is a breadth indicator.
• Volatility Indices - Indicators of implied volatility designed to measure fear and complacency for a range of indices and ETFs.