# Technical analysis terms, explained

> Every indicator, field and candlestick pattern the screener can scan — 48 terms, each with a working NSE scan.

Canonical: https://patternsradar.com/learn

## Price

- [52-week high and low](https://patternsradar.com/learn/52-week-high-low.md): The 52-week high and low are the highest and lowest prices of the last 252 trading sessions, with companion fields giving today's close as a percentage distance from each extreme.
- [Pivot points](https://patternsradar.com/learn/pivot-points.md): Pivot points are support and resistance levels computed from the previous session's high, low and close — the classic floor-trader formula giving a central pivot with two resistance levels above and two supports below.
- [Heikin-Ashi candles](https://patternsradar.com/learn/heikin-ashi.md): Heikin-Ashi candles are recomputed OHLC bars that average each candle with the one before it, smoothing out single-session noise so that runs of trend show as unbroken sequences of one colour.

## Volume & delivery

- [Chaikin Money Flow (CMF)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/chaikin-money-flow.md): Chaikin Money Flow measures buying and selling pressure by where each session closes within its range, weighted by volume and averaged over 20 bars — positive readings suggest accumulation, negative distribution.
- [Delivery percentage](https://patternsradar.com/learn/delivery-percentage.md): Delivery percentage is the share of a stock's daily traded volume actually transferred to demat accounts rather than squared off intraday, reported by the NSE at end of day for every listed stock.
- [Relative volume (RVOL)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/relative-volume.md): Relative volume is today's traded volume divided by the stock's own 20-day average volume, so a reading of 2 means twice the stock's normal activity regardless of how large or small that normal is.
- [Turnover](https://patternsradar.com/learn/turnover.md): Turnover is the rupee value of a stock's daily trade — closing price multiplied by volume — and is the standard liquidity measure for comparing activity across stocks at very different price levels.
- [On-balance volume (OBV)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/on-balance-volume.md): On-balance volume is a running total that adds the day's full volume when the stock closes up and subtracts it when the stock closes down, tracking cumulative buying and selling pressure over time.
- [Accumulation/Distribution line](https://patternsradar.com/learn/accumulation-distribution.md): The accumulation/distribution line is a running total of volume weighted by where each close sits within that day's high-low range, crediting volume as buying when closes are near the high and selling when near the low.
- [Force index](https://patternsradar.com/learn/force-index.md): Force index multiplies each day's price change by its volume and smooths the result over 13 bars, measuring whether buyers or sellers currently have both direction and size behind them.

## Moving averages

- [SMA (Simple Moving Average)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/sma.md): The simple moving average is the unweighted mean of a stock's closing prices over a chosen number of sessions, smoothing daily noise into a single line that shows where price has been trading.
- [EMA (Exponential Moving Average)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/ema.md): The exponential moving average is a moving average that weights recent closes more heavily than old ones, so it tracks a turn in price sooner than a simple average of the same period.
- [WMA (Weighted Moving Average)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/wma.md): The weighted moving average is a moving average whose weights decline linearly across the window, so the newest close counts most and the oldest counts least — a middle path between the SMA and EMA.
- [Hull Moving Average (HMA)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/hma.md): The Hull moving average is Alan Hull's low-lag moving average, built by combining weighted moving averages of different lengths so the line hugs price closely while staying smooth enough to read.
- [TEMA (Triple EMA)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/tema.md): TEMA is the triple exponential moving average — three layers of EMA smoothing combined so that most of the lag the layering would normally add is cancelled out, giving a smooth line that still turns quickly.
- [Wilder Moving Average (RMA)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/wilder-moving-average.md): The Wilder moving average, or RMA, is J. Welles Wilder's smoothing method — an exponential average with a gentler decay than a standard EMA — and it is the smoothing running inside RSI, ATR and ADX.
- [VWMA (Volume-Weighted Moving Average)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/vwma.md): The volume-weighted moving average is a moving average in which each session's close is weighted by that session's volume, so the line gravitates toward the prices where the most shares actually changed hands.

## Momentum

- [RSI (Relative Strength Index)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/rsi.md): RSI is Wilder's relative strength index, a momentum oscillator scaled 0 to 100 that measures how one-sided recent sessions have been by comparing the average size of up-closes to down-closes.
- [CCI (Commodity Channel Index)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/cci.md): The Commodity Channel Index measures how far the typical price has stretched from its own recent average, in units of its own typical deviation — an unbounded oscillator where ±100 marks unusual territory.
- [MFI (Money Flow Index)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/mfi.md): The Money Flow Index is a volume-weighted version of RSI: an oscillator scaled 0 to 100 that compares money flowing in on up sessions to money flowing out on down ones over 14 bars.
- [MACD](https://patternsradar.com/learn/macd.md): MACD (moving average convergence divergence) tracks momentum as the gap between the 12 and 26-period EMAs of price, with a 9-period signal line and a histogram showing whether that gap is widening or shrinking.
- [Stochastic oscillator](https://patternsradar.com/learn/stochastic.md): The stochastic oscillator measures where the latest close sits inside the recent high-low range, scaled 0 to 100 — near 100 the stock is closing at the top of its range, near 0 at the bottom.
- [Williams %R](https://patternsradar.com/learn/williams-r.md): Williams %R measures where the latest close sits within the highest high and lowest low of the last 14 sessions, on a scale from 0 at the top of the range to -100 at the bottom.
- [Stochastic RSI](https://patternsradar.com/learn/stochastic-rsi.md): Stochastic RSI applies the stochastic formula to RSI itself rather than to price, measuring where RSI sits within its own recent range on a 0-100 scale — the most sensitive of the standard oscillators.
- [Rate of change (ROC)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/rate-of-change.md): Rate of change is the percentage difference between today's price and the price 10 sessions ago — the rawest momentum measure there is, with no smoothing and no transformation between price and reading.

## Trend

- [ADX (Average Directional Index)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/adx.md): ADX is Wilder's average directional index, a 0–100 gauge of how strongly a stock is trending in either direction — it measures the trend's strength while saying nothing about which way it points.
- [Supertrend indicator](https://patternsradar.com/learn/supertrend.md): Supertrend is an ATR-based trailing stop plotted on price — a band that trails below price in an uptrend and above it in a downtrend, flipping sides when price closes through it.
- [Ichimoku Cloud](https://patternsradar.com/learn/ichimoku.md): Ichimoku is a Japanese trend system built from range midpoints: a 9-period conversion line, a 26-period base line, and two span lines whose gap forms the cloud that price trades above, below, or inside.
- [Aroon indicator](https://patternsradar.com/learn/aroon.md): Aroon measures how recently a stock made its 25-bar high and low, on twin 0–100 scales — a trend gauge built entirely from the timing of extremes, ignoring the size of any move.

## Volatility

- [ATR (Average True Range)](https://patternsradar.com/learn/atr.md): ATR is Wilder's average true range — the average size of a stock's daily trading range over 14 sessions, gaps included, expressed in rupees; it measures how much a stock moves, not which way.
- [Bollinger Bands](https://patternsradar.com/learn/bollinger-bands.md): Bollinger Bands are a volatility envelope around a 20-period simple moving average, set two standard deviations above and below it, so the bands widen when price swings grow and tighten when it goes quiet.
- [Donchian channel](https://patternsradar.com/learn/donchian-channel.md): The Donchian channel marks the highest high and lowest low of the last 20 sessions as an envelope around price, making the recent trading range itself a visible, screenable object.
- [Keltner channel](https://patternsradar.com/learn/keltner-channel.md): The Keltner channel is a volatility envelope around a 20-period EMA, set two average true ranges above and below it — like Bollinger bands, but breathing with traded range rather than statistical deviation.
- [True range](https://patternsradar.com/learn/true-range.md): True range is a single bar's real travel: the largest of the day's high-to-low span and the distances from either extreme back to the previous close, so overnight gaps count as movement.

## Candlestick patterns

- [Doji candlestick](https://patternsradar.com/learn/doji.md): A doji is a candle whose open and close are nearly equal, leaving almost no body — a session where every push by buyers was matched by sellers, read as indecision rather than direction.
- [Hammer candlestick pattern](https://patternsradar.com/learn/hammer.md): A hammer is a candle with a long lower wick and a small body at the top of the range — a session where sellers drove price well down and buyers took all of it back before the close.
- [Shooting star candlestick](https://patternsradar.com/learn/shooting-star.md): A shooting star is a candle with a long upper wick and a small body at the bottom of the range — a session where buyers pushed price well up and lost all of it by the close.
- [Marubozu candlestick](https://patternsradar.com/learn/marubozu.md): A marubozu is a candle with almost no wicks — the session opened at one extreme and closed at the other, meaning one side controlled the tape from the first print to the last.
- [Bullish engulfing pattern](https://patternsradar.com/learn/bullish-engulfing.md): A bullish engulfing is a two-candle pattern in which an up bar's body completely swallows the previous down bar's body — one session of buying that overwhelms the whole of the prior session's selling.
- [Bearish engulfing pattern](https://patternsradar.com/learn/bearish-engulfing.md): A bearish engulfing is a two-candle pattern in which a down bar's body completely swallows the previous up bar's body — one session of selling that erases and overruns the whole of the prior session's buying.
- [Bullish harami pattern](https://patternsradar.com/learn/bullish-harami.md): A bullish harami is a two-candle pattern in which a small up bar sits entirely inside the previous large down bar's body — after heavy selling, a session where the decline simply failed to continue.
- [Bearish harami pattern](https://patternsradar.com/learn/bearish-harami.md): A bearish harami is a two-candle pattern in which a small down bar sits entirely inside the previous large up bar's body — after strong buying, a session where the advance failed to continue at the first opportunity.
- [Morning star pattern](https://patternsradar.com/learn/morning-star.md): A morning star is a three-candle reversal: a strong down bar, a small-bodied pause, then a strong up bar closing through the midpoint of the first — heavy selling, a stall, and buyers taking control, in that order.
- [Evening star pattern](https://patternsradar.com/learn/evening-star.md): An evening star is a three-candle top: a strong up bar, a small-bodied pause, then a strong down bar closing through the midpoint of the first — enthusiasm, doubt, and exit, told across three sessions.
- [Three white soldiers pattern](https://patternsradar.com/learn/three-white-soldiers.md): Three white soldiers are three consecutive strong up bars, each closing near its high — a run of sustained, orderly buying that is difficult to produce by accident and is read as persistent demand rather than a spike.
- [Three black crows pattern](https://patternsradar.com/learn/three-black-crows.md): Three black crows are three consecutive strong down bars, each closing near its low — persistent, orderly selling with no panic in it, read as a campaign of distribution rather than a single bad day.
- [Inside bar pattern](https://patternsradar.com/learn/inside-bar.md): An inside bar is a session whose entire high-to-low range fits within the previous bar's range — a one-day volatility contraction, read as the market pausing inside yesterday's boundaries before choosing a direction.
- [Outside bar pattern](https://patternsradar.com/learn/outside-bar.md): An outside bar is a session whose range contains the whole of the previous bar's — a higher high and a lower low in one day, meaning both sides' levels were broken and the close is the verdict.