Technical Studies Overview

 

Field Name

Description

% Value Changed

 

The Percent Value Changed technical study is used to compare the performance of two or more symbols. The resulting value is the percent a stock price (open, close, high, or low) moved up or down when compared to the starting value on the chart.

 

Formula:

percentChanged[n] = (value[n] - value[0]) / (value[0] / 100);

Stochastic study

  • % K Stochastic

  • % D Stochastic

 

The Stochastic study compares the price at which a security closed to the price range over a given period of time. It consists of two lines: %K and %D. This study serves the purpose of indicating when to buy or sell a stock.

  • % K Stochastic

Represents the number of time periods used in the stochastic calculation.

  • % D Stochastic

Represents the number of time periods used when calculating a moving average of %K.
 

View additional information about the Stochastic study formula.

Acceleration

The difference between two momentum indicators. Acceleration is analogous to rate of change. If values of the momentum are positive and acceleration is positive, prices are increasing and the difference is increasing. For small changes in prices, this means that the rate of change in prices is increasing (price increases are said to be accelerating).

Bollinger Band

Bollinger Bands are based on the standard deviation of price added or subtracted to a simple moving average. The standard deviation error is added to the moving average for an upper envelope and subtracted for a lower envelope.

 

View additional information about the Bollinger Band formula.

Directional Movement

The Directional Movement Index (DMI) is a formula used to identify when a definable trend is present in an instrument.

 

The scale for the DMI is from 0-100. The Average Directional Movement Index (ADX) is a moving average of the DMI.

Exponential Moving Average

The exponential moving average is a smoothing technique. The exponential gives more weight to recent prices but allows all data in the window to influence the average. Instead of a number of periods, the exponential uses a smoothing factor which can have any value between zero and one. The larger the smoothing factor the more influenced the average will be by more recent prices.
View additional information about the Exponential Moving Average formula.

Linear Weighted Moving Average

The linear weighted moving average is a smoothing technique used to isolate a stock's trend from short term price fluctuations. By placing greater importance to more recent prices it tends to limit the price effect to the number of periods in the average.
View additional information about the Linear Weighted Moving Average formula.

MACD Signal

The difference between two exponential averages (long and short term), usually in conjunction with a signal line that is a short term exponential moving average of the MACD indicator.

 

View additional information about the MACD Signal formula.

Momentum Oscillator

The most basic of oscillators. It is the difference between two prices at a fixed interval. Momentum is the slope of price over time. A positive value of momentum indicates that prices are increasing. A positive momentum with a negative slope indicates that prices are increasing slower

Moving Average Momentum

 

A moving average is a smoothing technique used to isolate the trend from short term price fluctuations. There are four basic types of moving averages: simple, auto-regressive, linear weighted, and exponential.
View additional information about the Moving Average formulas.

Parabolic Time/Price

A technical analysis strategy that uses a trailing stop and reverse method (called "SAR," Stop-And-Reversal) to help determine good exit and entry points for investing.

 

View additional information about the Parabolic Time/Price formula.

Relative Strength Index

 

Movement of a stock price over the past year as compared to a market index (like the S&P 500). A value below 1.0 means the stock shows relative weakness in price movement (under performed the market); a value above 1.0 means the stock shows relative strength over the one-year period. Equation for Relative Strength: [current stock price/year-ago stock price] divided by [current S&P 500/year-ago S&P 500].
View additional information about the Relative Strength Index formula.

Simple Moving Average

The mean, calculated at any time over a past period of fixed length.

View additional information about the Simple Moving Average formula.

True Range

The Average True Range (ATR) is a measure of volatility based on the moving average of the True Ranges.

View additional information about the True Range formula.

Volume

The volume study displays the number of shares changing hands in a given period of time.