LogoLogo
Return to StockChartsCharts & ToolsArticlesChartSchoolYour Dashboard
  • 📋ChartSchool
  • Table of Contents
    • Overview
      • Why Analyze Securities?
      • Technical Analysis
      • Fundamental Analysis
      • Random Walk vs. Non-Random Walk
      • Asset Allocation and Diversification
      • John Murphy's 10 Laws of Technical Trading
      • John Murphy's "Charting Made Easy" eBook
      • Technical Analysis 101
        • TA 101 – Part 1
        • TA 101 – Part 2
        • TA 101 – Part 3
        • TA 101 – Part 4
        • TA 101 – Part 5
        • TA 101 – Part 6
        • TA 101 – Part 7
        • TA 101 – Part 8
        • TA 101 – Part 9
        • TA 101 – Part 10
        • TA 101 – Part 11
        • TA 101 – Part 12
        • TA 101 – Part 13
        • TA 101 – Part 14
        • TA 101 – Part 15
        • TA 101 – Part 16
        • TA 101 – Part 17
      • Irrational Exuberance
      • Cognitive Biases
      • Arthur Hill on Goals, Style and Strategy
      • Arthur Hill on Moving Average Crossovers
      • Multicollinearity
      • "The Trader's Journal" by Gatis Roze
        • Stage 1: Money Management
        • Stage 2: Business of Investing
        • Stage 3: The Investor Self
        • Stage 4: Market Analysis
        • Stage 5: Routines
        • Stage 6: Stalking Your Trade
        • Stage 7: Buying
        • Stage 8: Monitoring Your Investments
        • Stage 9: Selling
        • Stage 10: Re-Examine, Refine, Re-Enhance
        • Additional Reading
      • Bob Farrell's 10 Rules
      • Richard Rhodes' Trading Rules
      • Donchian Trading Guidelines
      • Why and How To Use Correlation
    • Chart Analysis
      • What Are Charts?
      • Support & Resistance
      • Trend Lines
      • Gaps and Gap Analysis
      • Introduction to Chart Patterns
      • Chart Patterns
        • Broadening Top or Megaphone Top
        • Double Top Reversal
        • Double Bottom Reversal
        • Head and Shoulders Top
        • Head and Shoulders Bottom
        • Falling Wedge
        • Rising Wedge
        • Rounding Bottom
        • Triple Top Reversal
        • Triple Bottom Reversal
        • Bump and Run Reversal
        • Flag, Pennant
        • Symmetrical Triangle
        • Ascending Triangle
        • Descending Triangle
        • Rectangle
        • Price Channel
        • Measured Move—Bullish
        • Measured Move—Bearish
        • Cup With Handle
      • Chart Types
        • Arms CandleVolume
        • CandleVolume
        • Elder Impulse System
        • EquiVolume
        • Heikin-Ashi Candlesticks
        • Kagi Charts
        • Renko Charts
        • Three Line Break Charts
        • MarketCarpets
        • Relative Rotation Graphs (RRG Charts)
        • Seasonality Charts
        • Yield Curve
      • Candlestick Charts
        • Introduction to Candlesticks
        • Candlesticks and Traditional Chart Analysis
        • Candlesticks and Support
        • Candlesticks and Resistance
        • Candlestick Bullish Reversal Patterns
        • Candlestick Bearish Reversal Patterns
        • Candlestick Pattern Dictionary
      • Point and Figure Charts
        • Point and Figure Basics
          • Introduction to Point & Figure Charts
          • Point & Figure Scaling and Timeframes
          • P&F Trend Lines
        • Classic Patterns
          • P&F Bullish Breakouts
          • P&F Bearish Breakdowns
          • P&F Signal Reversed
          • P&F Catapults
          • P&F Triangles
          • P&F Bull & Bear Traps
        • P&F Price Objectives
          • P&F Price Objectives: Breakout and Reversal Method
          • P&F Price Objectives: Horizontal Counts
          • P&F Price Objectives: Vertical Counts
        • Point & Figure Indicators
        • P&F Scans and Alerts
          • P&F Pattern Alerts
      • Chart Annotation Tools
        • Andrews' Pitchfork
        • Stock Market Cycles
        • Fibonacci Retracements
        • Fibonacci Arcs
        • Fibonacci Fans
        • Fibonacci Time Zones
        • Quadrant Lines
        • Raff Regression Channel
        • Speed Resistance Lines
    • Technical Indicators & Overlays
      • Introduction to Technical Indicators and Oscillators
      • Technical Indicators
        • Accumulation/Distribution Line
        • Alligator Indicator
        • Aroon
        • Aroon Oscillator
        • ATR Bands
        • ATR Trailing Stops
        • Average Directional Index (ADX)
        • Average True Range (ATR) and Average True Range Percent (ATRP)
        • Balance of Power (BOP)
        • Bollinger BandWidth
        • %B Indicator
        • Chaikin Money Flow (CMF)
        • Chaikin Oscillator
        • Chande Trend Meter (CTM)
        • CMB Composite Index
        • Commodity Channel Index (CCI)
        • ConnorsRSI
        • Coppock Curve
        • Correlation Coefficient
        • DecisionPoint Price Momentum Oscillator (PMO)
        • Detrended Price Oscillator (DPO)
        • Distance From Highs
        • Distance From Lows
        • Distance To Highs
        • Distance To Lows
        • Distance From Moving Average
        • Ease of Movement (EMV)
        • Force Index
        • Gopalakrishnan Range Index
        • High Low Bands
        • High Minus Low
        • Highest High Value
        • Linear Regression R2
        • Lowest Low Value
        • Mass Index
        • MACD (Moving Average Convergence/Divergence) Oscillator
        • MACD-Histogram
        • MACD-V
        • MACD-V Histogram
        • Median Price
        • Money Flow Index (MFI)
        • Negative Volume Index (NVI)
        • On Balance Volume (OBV)
        • Percentage Price Oscillator (PPO)
        • Percentage Volume Oscillator (PVO)
        • Performance Spread
        • Price Relative/Relative Strength
        • Pring's Know Sure Thing (KST)
        • Pring's Special K
        • Rate of Change (ROC)
        • Relative Strength Index (RSI)
        • Relative Volume (RVOL)
        • RRG Relative Strength
        • StockCharts Technical Rank
        • Slope
        • Standard Deviation (Volatility)
        • Stochastic Oscillator (Fast, Slow, and Full)
        • StochRSI
        • Traffic Light
        • TRIX
        • True Range
        • True Strength Index
        • TTM Squeeze
        • Typical Price
        • Ulcer Index
        • Ultimate Oscillator
        • Vortex Indicator
        • Weighted Close
        • Williams %R
      • Technical Overlays
        • Anchored VWAP
        • Bollinger Bands
        • Chandelier Exit
        • Double Exponential Moving Average (DEMA)
        • Hull Moving Average (HMA)
        • Ichimoku Cloud
        • Kaufman's Adaptive Moving Average (KAMA)
        • Keltner Channels
        • Linear Regression Forecast
        • Linear Regression Intercept
        • Moving Averages—Simple and Exponential
        • Moving Average Ribbon
        • Moving Average Envelopes
        • Parabolic SAR
        • Pivot Points
        • Price Channels
        • Triple Exponential Moving Average (TEMA)
        • Volume-by-Price
        • Volume-Weighted Average Price (VWAP)
        • ZigZag
    • Market Indicators
      • Introduction to Market Indicators
        • Market Indicator Dictionary
      • Advance-Decline Line
      • Advance-Decline Percent
      • Advance-Decline Volume Line
      • Advance-Decline Volume Percent
      • Arms Index (TRIN)
      • Bullish Percent Index (BPI)
      • DecisionPoint Intermediate-Term Breadth Momentum Oscillator (ITBM)
      • DecisionPoint Intermediate-Term Volume Momentum Oscillator (ITVM)
      • DecisionPoint Swenlin Trading Oscillator (STO)
      • High-Low Index
      • High-Low Percent
      • McClellan Oscillator
      • McClellan Summation Index
      • Net New 52-Week Highs
      • Percent Above Moving Average
      • Pring's Bottom Fisher
      • Pring's Diffusion Indicators
      • Pring's Inflation and Deflation Indexes
      • Pring's Net New High Indicators
      • Put/Call Ratio
      • Record High Percent
      • Volatility Indices
    • Market Analysis
      • Dow Theory
      • Sector Rotation Analysis
      • Intermarket Analysis
      • The DecisionPoint Chart Gallery
      • DecisionPoint Rydex Asset Analysis
      • Wyckoff Analysis Articles
        • Wyckoff Market Analysis
        • Wyckoff Stock Analysis
        • The Wyckoff Method: A Tutorial
      • Elliott Wave Analysis Articles
        • Introduction to Elliott Wave Theory
        • Identifying Elliott Wave Patterns
        • Guidelines for Applying Elliott Wave Theory
    • Trading Strategies & Models
      • DecisionPoint Trend Model
      • Trading Strategies
        • Bollinger Band Squeeze
        • CCI Correction
        • CVR3 VIX Market Timing
        • Faber's Sector Rotation Trading Strategy
        • Gap Trading Strategies
        • Harmonic Patterns
        • Hindenburg Omen
        • Ichimoku Cloud Trading Strategies
        • The 'Last' Stochastic Technique
        • MACD Zero-Line Crosses With Swing Points
        • Moving Average Trading Strategies
          • Finding Support and Resistance in Moving Averages
          • Guppy Multiple Moving Average: An MA Ribbon Designed to Tip the Market’s Hand
          • How To Trade Price-to-Moving Average Crossovers
          • Trading the Bounce: Finding Support and Resistance in Moving Averages
          • Trading the Death Cross
          • Trading Using the Golden Cross
          • Using the 5-8-13 EMA Crossover for Short-Term Trades
        • Moving Momentum
        • Narrow Range Day NR7
        • Percent Above 50-day SMA
        • Percent B Money Flow
        • The Pre-Holiday Effect
        • RSI(2)
        • Six-Month Cycle MACD
        • Slope Performance Trend
        • Stochastic Pop and Drop
        • Swing Charting
        • Trend Quantification and Asset Allocation
    • Index & Market Indicator Catalog
      • Advance-Decline Indicators
      • Cboe Indices and Indicators
      • CME Futures and Spot Prices
      • DecisionPoint Sentiment Indicators
      • Dow Jones Breadth Indicators
      • Dow Jones Global Indices
      • Dow Jones Select Indices
      • Dow Jones Titans Indices
      • Dow Jones US Indices
      • Economic Indicators
      • ICE Futures and Spot Prices
      • Intellidex Indices
      • MSCI Indices
      • New 52-week Highs and Lows for Exchanges
      • NYSE Arca Equity Indices
      • NYSE Equity Indices
      • Philadelphia Indices
      • S&P 500 Sector and Industry Groups
      • S&P GSCI Indices
      • StockCharts AD Percent
      • StockCharts AD Volume Percent
      • StockCharts Bullish Percent Index
      • StockCharts High-Low Index
      • StockCharts High-Low Percent
      • StockCharts Percent Above Moving Average
      • StockCharts Pseudo Symbols
      • StockCharts Record High Percent
      • StockCharts Theoretical Indices
      • US Treasury Yields
    • 📖Glossary
      • 📖Glossary - A
      • 📖Glossary - B
      • 📖Glossary - C
      • 📖Glossary - D
      • 📖Glossary - E
      • 📖Glossary - F
      • 📖Glossary - G
      • 📖Glossary - H
      • 📖Glossary - I
      • 📖Glossary - J
      • 📖Glossary - K
      • 📖Glossary - L
      • 📖Glossary - M
      • 📖Glossary - N
      • 📖Glossary - O
      • 📖Glossary - P
      • 📖Glossary - Q
      • 📖Glossary - R
      • 📖Glossary - S
      • 📖Glossary - T
      • 📖Glossary - U
      • 📖Glossary - V
      • 📖Glossary - W
      • 📖Glossary - X, Y, Z
    • Options Glossary
    • Educational Resources
Powered by GitBook
LogoLogo

ON STOCKCHARTS

  • Charts & Tools
  • Articles
  • StockCharts TV
  • ChartSchool

MEMBERS

  • Your Dashboard
  • Your ChartLists
  • Advanced Scans
  • Technical Alerts

HELP

  • Support Center
  • FAQs
  • Contact Us
  • Pricing

COMPANY

  • About Us
  • What's New
  • Careers
  • StockCharts Store

© StockCharts.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

On this page
  • What Is the Balance of Power?
  • Calculation
  • Interpretation
  • Zero-Line Crossovers
  • Trend identification
  • Divergences with Price
  • Overbought/Oversold Conditions
  • Conclusion
  • Charting with the Balance of Power Indicator
  • Scanning for BOP
  • Bullish Zero-Line Crossover
  • Bearish Zero-Line Crossover
  • Additional Resources
  • Stocks & Commodities Magazine Articles

Was this helpful?

Export as PDF
  1. Table of Contents
  2. Technical Indicators & Overlays
  3. Technical Indicators

Balance of Power (BOP)

PreviousAverage True Range (ATR) and Average True Range Percent (ATRP)NextBollinger BandWidth

Last updated 10 months ago

Was this helpful?

What Is the Balance of Power?

Balance of Power (BOP) is an oscillator that measures the strength of buying and selling pressure. Introduced by Igor Levshin in the August 2001 issue of Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities magazine, this indicator compares the power of buyers to push prices to higher extremes with the power of sellers to move prices to lower extremes. When the indicator is in positive territory, the bulls are in charge, and sellers dominate when the indicator is negative. A reading near the zero line indicates a balance between the two and can mean a trend reversal.

Note: This indicator is sometimes referred to as the Balance of Market Power (BMP).

Calculation

Livshin's original calculation method for the Balance of Power indicator is fairly complex, but can be reduced to a much simpler formula:

BOP = (Close - Open) / (High - Low)

Of course, using these raw daily values makes for a choppy oscillator, so the values are typically smoothed with a moving average. Livshin recommends smoothing with a 14-period SMA, but the number of periods can be modified to fit the timeframe being charted.

The resulting indicator oscillates between -1 and +1. A positive value indicates a Security that is closing above its open; the higher the value, the more extreme the positive price change. A maximum value of +1 would indicate that the security opened at the low and closed at the high value for every time period included in the moving average.

Interpretation

The Balance of Power indicator shows the direction and extent of price change during the trading period. Like most oscillators, the Balance of Power indicator can be used to identify trends, divergences from price, and overbought/oversold conditions. Zero-line crossovers provide buying and selling signals.

Zero-Line Crossovers

The scale of this oscillator ranges from -1 to +1, with 0 as the centerline. Zero-line crossovers indicate a move into positive or negative territory, and are often used as buy or sell signals. A cross above the center line generates a buy signal, and a cross below generates a sell signal.

The data is smoothed with a moving average in order to reduce the number of whipsaws. An SMA with more periods reduces the number of false crossover signals, but also reduces the responsiveness of the indicator.

While the main signal provided by the Balance of Power indicator comes from zero-line crossovers, it can also be used to determine the trend, look for divergences in price, and identify overbought/oversold securities.

Trend identification

A rising BOP line indicates an upward trend and a falling BOP line indicates a downward trend. The zero-line crossover confirms the trend change.

Divergences with Price

When price makes new highs but BOP doesn't, that is a negative divergence; when price makes new lows but BOP doesn't, that is a positive divergence. These divergences can foreshadow a change in trend.

Overbought/Oversold Conditions

Chartists will need to look at historical levels for the security they are studying to determine what should be considered overbought/oversold for that security. Once those overbought/oversold levels have been established for that security, then look for dips beyond those levels.

Conclusion

The Balance of Power (BOP) indicator uses price to measure buying and selling pressure. It determines the strength of the buyers and sellers by looking at how strongly the price has changed, rather than using volume.

Zero-line crossovers of the BOP indicator can be used as a signal for trend reversals. In addition, indicator trends, divergences with price, and extreme overbought/oversold levels can give clues about the current price trend and the possibility of a price trend reversal.

As with all indicators, traders should use the Balance of Power indicator in conjunction with other indicators and analysis techniques.


Charting with the Balance of Power Indicator

Once the plug-in is installed, the Balance of Power indicator can be added from the Chart Settings panel for your StockChartsACP chart. The indicator can be positioned above, below, or behind the security's price plot.

By default, the indicator is smoothed with a 14-period SMA, but the number of periods can be adjusted to meet your technical analysis needs.

Scanning for BOP

Bullish Zero-Line Crossover

This scan reveals stocks where the Balance of Power indicator crosses above zero, which is a bullish sign. This scan is just a starting point. Further refinement and analysis are required.

[type = stock] AND [country = US] 
AND [Daily SMA(20,Daily Volume) > 40000] 
AND [Daily SMA(60,Daily Close) > 20] 

AND [BOP(14) x 0]

Bearish Zero-Line Crossover

This scan reveals stocks where the Balance of Power indicator crosses below zero, which is a bearish sign. This scan is just a starting point. Further refinement and analysis are required.

[type = stock] AND [country = US] 
AND [Daily SMA(20,Daily Volume) > 40000] 
AND [Daily SMA(60,Daily Close) > 20] 

AND [0 x BOP(14)]

Additional Resources

Stocks & Commodities Magazine Articles

The Balance of Power indicator can be charted on StockChartsACP after installing our free Advanced Indicator Pack. Please see our in the Support Center for more information on installing this plug-in.

StockCharts members can screen for stocks based on Balance of Power (BOP) values. Below are some example scans that can be used for BOP-based signals. Simply copy the scan text and paste it into the Scan Criteria box in the .

Members can also set up alerts to notify them when a BOP-based signal is triggered for a stock. Alerts use the same syntax as scans, so the sample scans below can be used as a starting point for setting up alerts as well. Simply copy the scan text and paste it into the Alert Criteria box in the .

For more details on the syntax for Balance of Power scans, please see our in the Support Center.

Aug 2001 - Stocks & Commodities V.19:8 (18-32)

Balance of Market Power by Igor Livshin
StockChartsACP Plug-Ins article
Advanced Scan Workbench
Technical Alert Workbench
Scan Syntax Reference