Product Description
How To Use Tick, Tiki, TRIN
For Daytrading by Terry O ’Brian
These three indicators can be important guides in implementing trading strategies. Could they help you?
The tick, the tiki, and the trading index (TRIN) — indicators that are for the
most part unknown outside trading
circles — can be important guides in
implementing trading strategies. All
other indicators are derived from these
three; more important, they’re easy to
use and interpret. Critical to the use and understanding of any indicator, but especially in regard to
these three, is the context in which we use them and the
questions we want them to answer.
The tick, the tiki, and the TRIN measure what I refer to as
the pressure or the flow of trades in and out of the market. The tick and the tiki are essentially indicators made up of subtractions, while the TRIN is essentially a calculator. The tick
covers all stocks on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE),
as does the TRIN, while the tiki measures only the Dow 30
stocks. Neither the tick nor the tiki utilize volume in their
calculations, but the TRIN does. Finally, each indicator has
important and distinct characteristics.
TICK
The tick (Figure 1)is derived by subtracting the number of
stocks heading down from the number of those heading up. It
is an excellent intraday guide as to where the market is
heading in any given time frame. As a rule of thumb, a tick
movement above zero and going up supports a long position;
below zero and falling supports a short. Typically, the tick
indicator has a range between +600 and -600. The upper,
positive range indicates buying pressure; the lower, negative
range indicates selling pressure. At its extremes, the tick
becomes a contrarian indicator. For example, a +1,000-tick
movement, difficult to sustain for any period, is a clue to go
short; buying power is running out. Conversely, a -1,000-tick
movement may signal a long position and is almost always
good for a quick scalp. Most quote services provide the tick
on an intraday and end-of-day basis.