On-Balance Volume (OBV)

Also called: on balance volume

Cumulative volume indicator — adds volume on up-closes and subtracts on down-closes to measure buying/selling pressure.

OBV (Joe Granville, 1963) tracks the running sum of volume, flipping sign with each close. Rising OBV with rising price confirms the trend; falling OBV with rising price warns of weakness.

Mostly used as a divergence tool. In FX, tick volume substitutes for true volume.