This trend following indicator is made up of 3 parts.
A normalized (OBV) On Balance Volume (the gray line) which ranges between -100 and 100 and has a 55 period SMA overlayed (the orange line) to give an indication of the overall trend as far as volume goes.
- If the volume decreases without a drop in price, it might indicate a move down.
- If volume increases without a rise rise in the price, it might indicate a move up.
The (DMI) Directional Movement Indicator which shows the strength of the bulls versus the bears.
- The red line measures how strongly price moves downwards.
- The green line measures how strongly price moves upwards.
One way to trade this is on crossovers e.g.when the green line crosses the red; although it's best to combine this with another indicator or pattern for confirmation.
Another useful feature of the DMI is the ability to see strength of buyers and sellers pressure at the same time, acting as a confirmation before entering a trade.
The third way to use the DMI is when price makes a new high but the green line does not. (Or the price makes a new low and the red line doesn't) This is known as divergence and should act as a warning to tighten your stops or take profits because it signals a possible change of direction.
The last part of the indicator is the (ADX) Average Directional Index
This is the blue line and shows the strength of the trend regardless of direction. This can act as a confirmation for the DMI or other indicators in your trading system.
When the blue line is:
- above the green shaded area there is an extreme trend.
- in the green shaded area there is a very strong trend.
- in the yellow shaded area there is a strong trend.
- below the yellow shaded area there is no trend.