Accumulation / Distribution: OBV weighted by where the bar closed
How the A/D line differs from OBV by weighting each bar’s volume by close location, and what its divergences mean.
Accumulation / Distribution is free on Basis — the button opens a live crypto chart with it already applied. No account, no trial and no limit on how many indicators you add.
Open the chartWhat it measures
The Accumulation/Distribution line multiplies each bar’s volume by where the close sat within the bar’s range, and keeps a running total.
That is the difference from OBV: OBV assigns a bar’s whole volume to one side based on the close versus the previous close, while A/D splits it according to position within the bar.
A bar that closes in the middle of its range contributes almost nothing to A/D and its entire volume to OBV.
Neither treatment is right in general. OBV overstates indecisive bars and A/D understates them, so the two lines disagree most exactly where the auction was most contested — which is why watching the disagreement is more useful than choosing a favourite.
How it is calculated
These are the steps Basis performs, verified against the published definition.
- 1
Compute the close location value: ((close − low) − (high − close)) divided by the range, running from −1 to +1.
- 2
Multiply by the bar’s volume.
- 3
Add to a running total.
How to read it
- Only the slope and divergences matter; the level depends on where the series started.
- A/D rising while price falls means bars have been closing near their highs despite the decline — accumulation into weakness.
- It is the more sensitive of the two running-total volume lines, which cuts both ways.
- A bar closing exactly at its midpoint contributes nothing at all, so a session of indecisive bars leaves the line flat regardless of how much traded.
Where it misleads
A/D ignores gaps completely: a bar that opens far below the previous close and then closes at its own high registers as strong accumulation, when what actually happened was a collapse followed by a partial recovery. On instruments that gap this makes the line misleading in exactly the situations that matter, which is what the Chaikin and Twiggs refinements exist to address.
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Updated 2026-08-22 · Educational reference, not financial advice.