AccumulateDistribute.AccumulateDistributionOverPeriod Method

Evaluates the accumulation/distribution indicator for each of the (sub)collection of periods of a given length.

public double[] AccumulateDistributionOverPeriod(
   double[] high,
   double[] low,
   double[] volume,
   int lengthOfPeriod
);

Parameters

high: An array where the first term is the intraday high over the most recent period, the second term is the high over the previous period and so on.
low: An array where the first term is the intraday low over the most recent periods, the second term is the high over the previous period and so on.
volume: An array where the first terms is the trading volume of the asset considered over the most recent periods, the second term is the volume over the previous period and on so.
lengthOfPeriod: An integer which represents the number of periods within each of the (sub)collection of periods over which the indicator is evaluated.

Return Value

Array with the k-th term corresponds to the accumulation/distribution indicator over the k-th previous period.

Remarks

The accumulation/distribution indicator illustrates the degree to which an asset is being accumulated or distributed by the market over each of these collection of periods. The indicator uses the closing price's proximity to the high or low over the period to determine if accumulation or reduction is taking place in the market. The proximity measure is also multiplied by the volume over the period in order to give more weight to moves with correspondingly higher volume.

Interpretation

A divergence between the price action and this indicator can signal that a trend is nearing completion, a trends continuation and break-outs from trading ranges. The actual value of this indicator is of no significance, what is significant is its change in value relative to the previous periods which can warn of a possible break-out during a trading range (falling/rising indicator), the continuation of a trend (higher highs in uptrend, or lower lows in downtrend) or a change/completion of a trend (divergence between the price action and the direction of the indicator).

Example

Say for example we know that:

Highs = {3, 4, 3, 4, 5}, i.e. 3 is the high from the latest period.
Lows = {2, 1, 2, 1, 3}, i.e. 2 is the low from the latest period.
Volume = {300, 290, 295, 285, 290}, i.e. 300 is the volume in the latest period.

Now if the lengthOfPeriod considered is 4, then this method will return an array of length two where the first term is the accumulation\distribution indicator (evaluated using AccumulationDistribution) when:

Highs = {3, 4, 3, 4}, i.e. above Highs with the last element removed.
Lows = {2, 1, 2, 1}, i.e. above Highs with the last element removed.
Volume = {300, 290, 295, 285} i.e. above Highs with last element removed.

and the second term is the accumulation/distribution indicator when:

Highs = {4, 3, 4, 5}, i.e. the window moves one position back.
Lows = {1, 2, 1, 3}, i.e. the window moves one position back.
Volume = {290, 295, 285, 290}, i.e. the window moves one position back.

Exceptions

Exception Type	Condition
ArgumentException	Throw when the three arrays highs, lows, volume do not have the same length, or when any element of these three arrays is a strictly negative number.