Barchart.com
Investment Tools And Research To Help Make You A More Confident And Profitable Trader. FREE 30 Day Trial
Menu
alerts false
Stocks | Futures | Watchlist | News | More
 
Advanced search
or
Watchlist | Portfolio | Dashboard
Site News
Contact
Market:

Technical Indicators

Sat, Jul 5th, 2025
Go To:
The descriptions, formulas, and parameters shown below apply to both Interactive Charts and Snapshot Charts, unless noted. Please note that some of the parameters may be slightly different between the two versions of charts.
Studies noted with * are available only in Snapshot Charts and those noted with ^ are available only in Interactive Charts.
Previous
Next
Please wait...

Negative Volume Index

Indicator Type: Standalone

The Negative Volume Index (NVI) focuses on periods where the volume decreases from the previous period. The premise being that the smart money takes positions when volume decreases. This index that tries to determine what experienced traders are doing by looking at periods where trading volume has decreased from the previous period, under the belief that unusually high volume is a sign that inexperienced traders are moving the markets

The Negative Volume Index (NVI) was developed to provide buy signals on a given equity when the price is trending upward while the volume is trending downward. The premise behind this indicator is that price changes on high volume days are a result of uninformed traders while price changes on decreased volume are due to informed traders. Per this premise, increases in the NVI are taken as indicative of smart money buying into the stock. Trend reversals are indicated by crossovers with a signal line which is a 255-period moving average of the NVI.

Bull markets are presumed to occur when the NVI is above its 255-period moving average. Buy (long) signals are issued when the NVI crosses above its 255-period moving average. Sell (short) signals are issued when the NVI crosses below its 255-period moving average.

Usage

The interpretation of the NVI assumes that when volume increases, the crowd-following uninformed traders are in the market. Conversely, with decreased volume, the "smart money" is quietly taking positions. Thus, the NVI displays what the smart money is doing.

The Negative Volume Index is not currently applicable for Intraday charts and will never be applicable for Tick charts, due to the nature of the data.

Sample Chart:

Negative Volume Index

Parameters:

The default setting for the Negative Volume Index (exponential moving average) is 255 days.

  • Period (255) - the number of bars, or period.

Calculation

If Ct and Cy denote the closing prices of today and yesterday, respectively, the negative volume index for today is calculated by

  • adding NVIyesterday (Ct - Cy) / Cy to yesterday's NVI if today's volume is lower than yesterday's,

  • adding zero otherwise,

and the positive volume index is calculated by

  • adding NVIyesterday (Ct - Cy) / Cy to yesterday's NVI if today's volume is higher than yesterday's,

  • adding zero otherwise
Want to use this as
your default charts setting?
Save this setup as a Chart Templates
Switch the Market flag
for targeted data from your country of choice.
Open the menu and switch the
Market flag for targeted data from your country of choice.
Want Streaming Chart Updates?
Switch your Site Preferences
to use Interactive Charts
Need More Chart Options?
Right-click on the chart to open the Interactive Chart menu.
Use your up/down arrows to move through the symbols.
Free Barchart Webinar
UTC
Reserve Your Spot