What it does
A breadth oscillator that compares advancing versus declining stocks and presents the result as a histogram of bars around a zero or unity baseline, making the day-to-day balance of breadth easy to scan visually. Positive bars show sessions where advancers outnumbered decliners; negative bars show decliner-dominated sessions. It carries the same information as the advance/decline ratio but emphasizes the sequence and clustering of breadth readings.
How to add it
Click Indicators (ƒx) in the header.
Search “Advance/Decline Ratio (Bars)” and click the result.
Hover its legend row and click the gear to open settings.
How traders use it
- Clusters of positive bars confirm a healthy uptrend; clusters of negative bars confirm distribution.
- Look for shrinking bar height while the index keeps rising as an early warning that participation is thinning.
- Unusually tall bars in either direction mark breadth-thrust or capitulation days that often precede short-term reversals or the start of new legs.
- Use a flip in the dominant bar color after an extended run as a cue to tighten stops on trend positions.
Inputs
| Input | Type | Default | Range / Options |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length | number | 9 | 1–200 |
| Timeframe | select | Chart | Chart / 1 minute / 5 minutes / 15 minutes / 30 minutes / 1 hour / 1 day / 1 week / 1 month |
| Wait for timeframe closes | boolean | On | — |
Plots & styling
| Plot | Style | Default color |
|---|---|---|
| A/D Ratio Bars(9) | histogram | #4caf50 |
Every plot's color, line width and visibility can be changed on the Style tab. Precision, price-scale labels and status-line values are configurable at the bottom of the Style tab.
Reference levels
| Level | Value |
|---|---|
| 1.0 | 1 |
Level values, colors and line styles are editable in settings.
Tips
- Merge multiple oscillators into one pane from the legend ⋯ menu to compare them on a shared axis.
- Double-click the plot to open settings directly, skipping the legend hover.
- The pane keeps its height in saved layouts, so size it once and it survives reloads.
- A custom timeframe input lets it compute on a higher interval than the chart.
Watch out for
- Single-bar readings are noisy; the indicator is only meaningful when read as a sequence over multiple sessions.
- It requires breadth data for the underlying universe, so it is only relevant on index or market symbols, not individual stocks.