# Accumulation/Distribution line

> 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.

Canonical: https://patternsradar.com/learn/accumulation-distribution

`acc_dist` accumulates each day's volume scaled by where the close finished inside the day's range. A close at the high adds the full volume; a close at the low subtracts it; a close mid-range adds nothing. The idea is that the close's position in the range records who won the session — and unlike OBV's all-or-nothing signing, a stock that rose but closed weakly is marked as sold into.

On end-of-day data the line is read for trend and for divergence. `acc_dist rising for 5 bars` alongside a flat price is the accumulation profile — buyers absorbing supply without marking the price up yet. Price at new highs while the line sags is the distribution warning. Because the level itself is arbitrary, every useful condition is relative: rising streaks, comparisons to its own past via offsets, or highest-in-window checks.

Its blind spot is gaps. The formula only sees the day's own range, so a stock that gaps down 5% but closes near that day's high books the session as strong buying — the overnight loss never enters the line. Illiquid names with wide, thin ranges also produce noisy close locations. As with OBV, one derived line is an inference; on NSE data the delivery figure measures the same idea directly and makes a worthwhile cross-check.

The family in one breath: OBV signs whole days by close-to-close direction and does see gaps. A/D reads within-day close location and does not. Chaikin money flow is A/D's sum over 20 bars divided by total volume, giving a bounded oscillator where positive means net buying pressure over the window. Use A/D for the long trend, CMF when a zero line and thresholds are wanted.

## In Sift

Written as `acc_dist — a signed running total; direction matters, level does not`. A working scan — A week of closes finishing strong in their ranges, in an intact trend:

```sift
where acc_dist rising for 5 bars and close > sma(50)
```

1 of the 500 most-traded NSE stocks match today, as of 2026-08-20.

## Common questions

### How is the accumulation/distribution line calculated?

Each day, volume is multiplied by a close-location factor: +1 if the close is at the day's high, -1 at the low, scaled linearly between. That signed amount is added to a running total. The line's level is arbitrary; its slope and its divergence from price are what get read.

### What does divergence between price and A/D mean?

Price making new highs while the A/D line flattens or falls suggests the advance is happening on weak closes — buyers are not finishing sessions in control. The bullish mirror is a rising line under a flat price, read as quiet accumulation. Divergences flag a tension; they do not time its resolution.