V.10:1 (30-34): Equivolume Using A Spreadsheet Program by James Leahy

Equivolume Using A Spreadsheet Program by James Leahy

Equivolume charting, which permits plotting price movements vs. volume instead of time, can be plotted by hand or with one of several charting programs, but a plain spreadsheet program on your personal computer can do the job and lets you add your own indicators. This author shows you how.

Equivolume charts, which were pioneered by Richard Arms, allow plotting price movements vs. volume instead of time as is usually done. The result of this graph is a rectangular box for each "point" plotted. The width of the box is represented relative to volume traded and the height of the box represents the high and low price range traded that period (Figure 1). Thus, when a stock price moves on high volume, the resulting box is wide. When the price moves on low volume, the box is narrow. This gives an indication of the ease of movement of the stock. A big price range on little volume means there is little resistance to price movements. Conversely, when the price moves little on heavy volume, there is a lot of resistance to price changes and could signal a turning point.

Several charting programs will plot Equivolume charts, but an ordinary spreadsheet and a personal computer can do the same for no additional cost. Using your own spreadsheet also allows you the flexibility of adding your own favorite oscillator to the Equivolume chart.

USING HIGH-LOW-CLOSE

Normally, stock prices are plotted on a spreadsheet using a high-low-close graph. This graph uses a vertical line to represent the high and low price range with a horizontal tick mark to represent the close. By using multiple entries per "point," the spreadsheet can create a box by using two vertical lines representing the sides and the close tick marks representing the top or bottom of the box . Some spreadsheets allow two tick marks per point, which normally represent opening and closing prices, allowing the box to be closed on top and bottom.