Momentum and Percent Change

Momentum is the difference between the current price and the price X-time periods ago. The difference can be displayed in either points or as a percentage. The difference in points is referred to as Momentum or Price Change. The difference as a percentage is referred to as Percent Change.

Momentum is defined as the current close or settlement price minus the settlement price of X-periods ago, where X is defined by the first argument. The positive or negative price difference is plotted around the zero line. The second plot is the Y-period moving average of the momentum, where Y is defined by the second argument.

Momentum displays the wave-like motion in an oscillator format, plotted around a zero line, by measuring the amount that prices have changed over a given time period. As prices increase, the momentum rises; as prices fall, the momentum falls. The greater the change in prices, the greater the change in momentum.

Is is most commonly used as an overbought/oversold indicator. When the indicator moves from positive to negative, the market direction is changing.

The CRB Market Momentum Index at a given point in time takes into account all stocks with a current price of $2 or more and current volume of 10,000 or more shares. The index is calculated on demand and updated every 10 minutes on Barchart.com.

The formula is:

• 1) Calculate (price/previous - 1.0) for each split adjusted stock
• 2) Accumulate the result from step 1) for each of the 5000 - 6000 participating stocks
• 3) Multiply the total in 2) by 100.0 and divide the number of participating stocks

The result is the current Market Momentum Index expressed as a percentage.

Sample Chart: