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  • 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
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        • Triple Top Reversal
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        • Bump and Run Reversal
        • Flag, Pennant
        • Symmetrical Triangle
        • Ascending Triangle
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        • Rectangle
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        • Measured Move—Bullish
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        • Cup With Handle
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        • Arms CandleVolume
        • CandleVolume
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        • Kagi Charts
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        • Three Line Break Charts
        • MarketCarpets
        • Relative Rotation Graphs (RRG Charts)
        • Seasonality Charts
        • Yield Curve
      • Candlestick Charts
        • Introduction to Candlesticks
        • Candlesticks and Traditional Chart Analysis
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        • Candlestick Bullish Reversal Patterns
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        • 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
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          • P&F Triangles
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        • 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
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      • Chart Annotation Tools
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        • Quadrant Lines
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    • 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
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      • NYSE Arca Equity Indices
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      • S&P 500 Sector and Industry Groups
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      • StockCharts AD Percent
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      • StockCharts High-Low Index
      • StockCharts High-Low Percent
      • StockCharts Percent Above Moving Average
      • StockCharts Pseudo Symbols
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      • StockCharts Theoretical Indices
      • US Treasury Yields
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On this page
  • What Is the Median Price Indicator?
  • How Is the Median Price Indicator Calculated?
  • How Do You Interpret the Median Price Indicator?
  • The Pros and Cons of the Median Price Indicator
  • Pros of the Median Price Indicator
  • Cons of the Median Price Indicator
  • Charting Median Price Indicator With StockChartsACP
  • The Bottom Line

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  1. Table of Contents
  2. Technical Indicators & Overlays
  3. Technical Indicators

Median Price

PreviousMACD-V HistogramNextMoney Flow Index (MFI)

Last updated 11 months ago

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What Is the Median Price Indicator?

The Median Price indicator is a line-based graph showing the trading range's midpoint for a given period. It's calculated by averaging the highest and lowest prices for a specific range of sessions (StockCharts’ default is 14 periods).

Consider it a moving average of median (or midpoint) prices. Because the Median Price Indicator averages median prices versus closing prices, as in the case of most moving averages, it tends to be less affected by large price fluctuations and outliers.

How Is the Median Price Indicator Calculated?

The calculation is relatively simple.

Median Price=High+Low2Median\nobreakspace Price = \cfrac{High + Low} 2 Median Price=2High+Low​

To derive the median price for a given period of days, say, 14 days, you would calculate the median price for each day and then calculate the average median price over the past 14-day period.

The chart below depicts Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), with the Median Price Indicator displayed in the lower panel. You can also overlay it on the price chart.



While AMD’s prices fluctuate with relative volatility, notice how the progression of its median price is smooth, illustrating a clear trend in its movement over time.

In addition to helping you identify the underlying trend of a given stock, the Median Price Indicator can also serve as a comparative filter when used with other trend indicators.

How Do You Interpret the Median Price Indicator?

Interpreting the Median Price Indicator is pretty straightforward:

  • A rising line suggests an uptrend

  • A falling line suggests a downtrend

While the interpretation can be simple, how can you make this indicator actionable?

Comparative trend filter. You can compare the median price line with other trend indicators to confirm trend direction.

Price-to-line crossovers. When you overlay the median line on the price chart, you can use the indicator as a buy and sell signal. When price crosses above the median line, it may signal an opportunity for a buying setup; the opposite may be the case if price crosses below the median line.

Rising/falling lines. When the median line begins trending upwards, it may be a bullish sign to look for a potential buying setup; the reverse may be true when the median line begins to trend downward.

The Pros and Cons of the Median Price Indicator

Like all technical indicators, the Median Price Indicator has its set of strengths and limitations.

Pros of the Median Price Indicator

Simple to Interpret. The indicator’s main advantage is its simplicity. The simple calculations and the basis of the inputs are closely associated with the actual price movements, making it relatively easy to interpret.

Filters Out Market Noise. The Median Price Indicator can provide a clearer picture of the market's underlying direction​ because the focus is on the median level of prices rather than closing prices, which are subject to volatility and large fluctuations.

Helps Identify Support and Resistance. Some traders look to certain moving averages such as the 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day simple moving average, for potential support. While the Median Price Indicator is also a moving average, but a less volatile one as it’s based on median prices, it can aid you in assessing moving averages that are usually used as possible support and resistance by delivering a secondary average or a wider range of it.

Cons of the Median Price Indicator

Lagging Indicator. Like all moving averages, the Median Price Indicator is a lagging indicator. This can sometimes reduce its effectiveness in fast-moving market conditions.

Misleading Signals. Despite its capacity to reduce market noise, the Median Price Indicator can still produce false or misleading signals, especially when markets are choppy.

Not As Effective in Non-Trending Markets. This indicator works best in trending conditions. When markets are range-bound or sideways, the Median Price Indicator might not provide clear signals that would be considered actionable.

Charting Median Price Indicator With StockChartsACP

  • Enter the ticker symbol of the chart you wish to analyze.

  • Under Chart Settings, select Median Price from the list of Standard Indicators.

To change the default parameter settings, select the settings icon next to the indicator and change either the number of periods, line style, opacity, colors, or choose to add an overlay to the indicator.

The Bottom Line

The Median Price Indicator effectively identifies the overall trend of a stock's price by averaging the median prices over a given period. Its ability to filter out market noise and its easy-to-interpret construction and visual format make it particularly useful. Although it has its inherent limitations, if used properly, the Median Price Indicator can be a valuable tool in helping you identify and confirm trends. It works well as a comparative trend filter alongside other trend indicators and can help confirm bullish or bearish market conditions based on the direction of the median line trends and price-to-line crossovers.

Click here for the live chart.
The Median Price indicator displayed in the lower panel using SharpChartsACP