The Technical Analysis page contains the results of 16 common technical analytics over different periods of time. The analytics are:
Moving Average
Price Change
Percent Change
Average Volume
- The Moving Average is the average price of the security or contract for the Period shown. For example, a 9-period moving average is the average of the closing prices for the past 9 periods, including the current period. For intraday data the current price is used in place of the closing price.
The moving average is used to observe price changes. The effect of the moving average is to smooth the price movement so that the longer-term trend becomes less volatile and therefore more obvious. When the price rises above the moving average, it indicates that investors are becoming bullish on the commodity. When the price falls below, it indicates a bearish commodity. As well, when a moving average crosses below a longer-term moving average, the study indicates a down turn in the market. When a short-term moving average crosses above a longer term moving average, this indicates an upswing in the market. The longer the period of the moving average, the smoother the price movement is. Longer moving averages are used to isolate long-term trends.
- The Price Change and associated Percent Change is the difference between the current Last Price, and the Last Price from the Period shown.
- The Average Volume figure is the average for the security or individual contract (for commodities) over the specified period of time.
Raw Stochastic
Stochastic %K
Stochastics %D
Relative Strength
- The stochastic values simply represent the position of the market on a percentage basis versus its range over the previous n-period sessions. The percentage scale runs from zero to 100%. The Stochastic Indicator shows where a security's price closed in relation to its price range over the specified time period. There are three primary stochastic values:
- Raw Stochastic - the most basic value representing the stochastic value for each period. This is also referred to as raw K.
- Stochastic %K - the first smoothing of the raw stochastic, usually with a 3-period exponential moving average.
- Stochastic %D - the smoothing of the %k value, usually with another 3-period exponential moving average. Also known as slow K.
- The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is one of the most popular overbought/oversold (OB/OS) indicators. The RSI is basically an internal strength index which is adjusted on a daily basis by the amount by which the market rose or fell. It is most commonly used to show when a market has topped or bottomed. A high RSI occurs when the market has been rallying sharply and a low RSI occurs when the market has been selling off sharply. The RSI is expressed as a 2 decimal number, and ranges from zero to 100.
Average True Range
Average True Range %
Average Daily Range
Average Daily Range %
- Average True Range (ATR) is a moving average of trading ranges over a given period. High values often occur at market bottoms following a "panic" sell-off while low values are often found during extended sideways periods, such as those found at tops and after consolidation periods.
The Average True Range is the greatest of the following:
- The price difference from today's high to today's low.
- The price difference from yesterday's close to today's high.
- The price difference from yesterday's close to today's low.
- Average True Range % - The Average Daily Range Percent (ADRP) is a volatility indicator, calculated by dividing the average daily range by the current price. The higher the value the more volatile the underlying security, and elevated values can often precede price reversals. ADRP is often used for swing and day trading to security with a large trading range.
- Average Daily Range - High Average Daily Range (ADR) values often occur at market bottoms following a "panic" sell-off. Low Average Daily Range values are often found during extended sideways periods, such as those found at tops and after consolidation periods. The Daily True Range indicator is the price difference from today's high to today's low.
- Average Daily Range % - A measurement of volatility, Average Daily Range Percent (ADRP) is calculated by dividing the given period Average Daily Range by the underlying closing price, expressed as a percentage.
Average Directional Index
Positive Directional Index (+DI)
Negative Directional Index (-DI)
Historic Volatility
- Average Directional Index - The Average Directional Index Technical Indicator (ADX) helps to determine if there is a price trend in the underlying market. A value below 20 means the market is not trending, where as a value above 25 means the market is trending. A higher value indicates a stronger trend.
- Positive Directional Index (+DI) - The Positive Direction Index (+DI) is used to determine the presence of an up-trend, and is used in conjunction with a high ADX reading, and a value greater than the corresponding -DI reading, to help determine a dominate up-trend.
- Negative Directional Index (-DI) - The Negative Direction Index (-DI) is used to determine the presence of an down-trend, and is used in conjunction with a high ADX reading, and a value greater than the corresponding +DI reading, to help determine a dominate down -trend.
- Historic Volatility is the standard deviation of the "price returns" over a given number of sessions, multiplied by a factor (260 days) to produce an annualized volatility level. A "price return" is the natural logarithm of the percentage price changes or ln[Pt/P(t-1)].
A volatile market therefore has a larger standard deviation and thus a higher historical volatility value. Conversely, a market with small fluctuations has a small standard deviation and a low historical volatility value. Historical volatility is available on a daily chart, and on the Technicals Summary page for an individual ticker symbol/commodity contract.
Historical volatility can also be used as a tool by traders who are trading only the underlying instrument. Quantifying the volatility in a market can affect a trader's perception of how far the market can move and thus provides some help in making price projections and placing orders. High volatility may indicate a trend reversal as heavy buying/selling comes into the market and may sharp price reversals.
Technicals are calculated and updated every 20 minutes during the trading day using delayed market data.
Alerts on Technicals
Barchart Premier users can set Alerts on Technicals. Alerts are triggered using the same delayed data (calculated every 20 minutes) as shown on this page.s
