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1992issue C101

Constructing indicator phase across averages, volume and bands

Indicator phase is the signed distance of an indicator from a chosen median or center. When a moving average or on-balance volume is plotted with price, that phase is price minus the overlay. Bollinger Bands express the same signed distance in standard-deviation units around a price moving average.

  • Indicator phase is the signed distance of an indicator from a chosen median or center.
  • When a moving average or on-balance volume is plotted with price, phase at a sampling time is price minus the overlay.
  • Phase may be restated as a percentage, or expressed in standard-deviation units with Bollinger Bands around a price moving average.
  • Oscillator phase is the indicator minus its median, using 50 when the oscillator is confined to the range from 0 to 100.
Entries in this reading3 entries
Current trackOn-balance volume88 readingsBollinger Bands102 readingsMoving average597 readings

What indicator phase is

Indicator phase is the signed distance of an indicator from a chosen median or center. The chosen center can be price, a median, or a moving-average envelope.

Phase from a price overlay

When a moving average is plotted with price, phase at a sampling time is price minus the average. The moving average is a price overlay whose phase is that gap.

When on-balance volume is plotted with price, phase at a sampling time is price minus the indicator. On-balance volume is a volume overlay treated the same way as a moving average when phase is the gap between price and the indicator.

Percentage phase and band envelopes

Phase may be restated as a percentage by scaling the price-to-indicator gap by the indicator value. That restatement is percentage phase.

Bollinger Bands express phase in standard-deviation units by drawing envelope channels a stated number of deviations around a price moving average.

The same phase diagram can be drawn with the raw difference, the percentage form, or the standard-deviation form.

Oscillator phase

An oscillator confined to the range from 0 to 100 measures phase as the indicator minus 50, so phase occupies the interval from -50 to +50.

An oscillator without a fixed range measures phase as the indicator minus its own median over a chosen lookback. Oscillator phase is the distance above or below that median, using 50 when the oscillator is bounded from 0 to 100.

Educational research material, not investment advice. Historical source context does not establish present-day performance.
20 of 61 in the On-balance volume track
19931-11 pp.Next on On-balance volumeForce on-balance volume to agree with itself at slower horizonsOn-balance volume is a running sum of volume that adds the session after an up close and subtracts it after a down close.
All readings on this track · 61 readings
  1. 1988Cumulative volume trend and 200-session polarity
  2. 1988Three clocks when cumulative volume led price
  3. 1988Payoff index checkpoints for open interest and divergence
  4. 1988Relative strength, stochastics, and on-balance volume as a turning-point stack
  5. 1988Signing volume by open interest change
  6. 1988Case study: weekly on-balance volume with trendlines and a 21-period average
  7. 1988Combining weekly and daily MACD divergences with on-balance volume
  8. 1988Restoring the original tests for market breadth, on-balance volume, and trendlines
  9. 1989Evaluating volume-weighted breadth extremes
  10. 1989Demand oscillator construction with a momentum overlay
  11. 1989Constructing a volume percentage ratio from advance-decline flow
  12. 1990Constructing net positive volume as On-balance volume
  13. 1990Buying-share scale with on-balance volume
  14. 1990Friday-filtered on-balance confirmation lines
  15. 1991Constructing rate-market volume breadth from on-balance volume
  16. 1991Building a breadth composite from on-balance volume breakouts
  17. 1992Constructing a rate-complex volume-breadth index
  18. 1992Constructing a breadth index from on-balance volume
  19. 1992Constructing signed market thrust from issue volume
  20. 1992Constructing indicator phase across averages, volume and bands
  21. 1993Force on-balance volume to agree with itself at slower horizons
  22. 1993Three transforms of market thrust from breadth and volume
  23. 1994Constructing a tick-line momentum oscillator
  24. 1994Constructing a smoothed on-balance tick momentum oscillator
  25. 1994Histogram confirmation and a second-series veto for MACD-family alerts
  26. 1994Constructing a 40-period envelope on on-balance volume
  27. 1996Constructing a matched percent-B volume disparity
  28. 1997Constructing calendar regime overlays and volume-weighted rules
  29. 1997Constructing market thrust from breadth and volume
  30. 1997Constructing on-balance volume as a signed running total
  31. 1997A three-layer construction for a signed volume-force oscillator
  32. 1997Constructing a range-sum volume-force oscillator
  33. 1999On-balance volume confirmation, price-indicator divergence, and bounded exits
  34. 2000A daily long-only confirmation stack on the tether line
  35. 2000A three-filter tether and volume trend system
  36. 2003Constructing finite volume elements as a finite-period money-flow filter
  37. 2003Constructing on-balance volume from signed session volume
  38. 2003On-balance volume as a market-breadth participation ledger
  39. 2003Construct a volatility-adjusted on-balance volume filter before confirming a breakout
  40. 2004Opening and midday ranges as an on-balance-volume breakout case
  41. 2004Constructing a volatility-gated volume-flow measure
  42. 2004Constructing a volume-flow series from on-balance volume
  43. 2004Volume-flow indicator construction from on-balance volume
  44. 2004Volume-flow slope divergence, then separate on-balance-volume and crossover rules
  45. 2004Volume flow and band construction as one inspectable problem
  46. 2004Auditing advance-decline confirmation for scale, horizon, and composition
  47. 2005Bounded market breadth from the Arms index to BRIN
  48. 2006Overnight-hold entry and exit construction
  49. 2007Evaluating Volume-price confirmation versus On-balance volume and MACD
  50. 2009Volume confirmation versus a price advance
  51. 2010Typeahead retrieval of a moving average, on-balance volume, and a stochastic oscillator
  52. 2010Modified volume-price trend and log-price scale alignment
  53. 2010Constructing liquidity accelerometers from advance-decline averages
  54. 2012Failed short cycles as breadth and volume tests
  55. 2016Earnings straddles, implied volatility, and money-flow filters
  56. 2017A volume residual filter and a price projection matrix
  57. 2019Volume-volatility parabola and signed-volume momentum
  58. 2019Separating on-balance volume into breadth and volume
  59. 2020Constructing the obvm signal line
  60. 2020Constructing smoothed on-balance volume with a signal line
  61. 2020Keep neutrality as a first-class input in three-state market data
By fieldIndicators and filters874 readingsBy year1992153 readings
All 88 readings tagged On-balance volume
Also on On-balance volume5 readings
1994Constructing a 40-period envelope on on-balance volume1996Constructing a matched percent-B volume disparity1994Histogram confirmation and a second-series veto for MACD-family alerts1996Constructing a price-volume percent-B disparity1996Constructing volume disparity from percent-b