A single cumulative money-flow line. Like OBV, only its direction and its agreement with price matter, not its absolute value. A rising line points to accumulation; a falling line points to distribution.
The Accumulation/Distribution line is a running, volume-weighted measure of buying versus selling pressure. For each bar it weights volume by where the close sits inside the bar's range, then adds it to a cumulative total. A rising line suggests accumulation (buying), a falling line suggests distribution (selling).
How it works
Each bar's close is measured against its high-low range to get a money-flow multiplier between -1 and +1: closing near the high gives a positive value, near the low a negative one. That multiplier times the bar's volume is added to a running total, producing a cumulative line.
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Feeds into
Examples
Confirm strength: require the A/D line to rise with price before trusting a breakout.
Spot weakness: flag a falling A/D line while price holds up, hinting at quiet distribution.
Common mistakes
Reading the absolute A/D value instead of its slope and its divergence from price.
Forgetting that bars with a tiny high-low range can swing the multiplier sharply, adding noise on thin candles.