Technical Analysis from A to Z

by Steven B. Achelis

UPSIDE/DOWNSIDE RATIO

Overview

The Upside/Downside Ratio shows the relationship between up (advancing) and down (declining) volume on the New York Stock Exchange. Click here for more information on Advancing, declining, and unchanged volume.

Interpretation

When the Upside/Downside Ratio is greater than 1.0, it is showing that there is more volume associated with stocks that are increasing in price than with stocks that are decreasing in price.

While discussing advancing/declining volume in his book, Winning on Wall Street, Martin Zweig states, "Every bull market in history, and many good intermediate advances, have been launched with a buying stampede that included one or more 9-to-1 days" ("9-to-1" refers to a day were the Upside/Downside Ratio is greater than nine). He goes on to say, "the 9-to-1 up day is a most encouraging sign, and having two of them within a reasonably short span is very bullish. I call it a "double 9-to-1" when two such days occur with three months of one another."

Table 15 (originally tabulated through 1984 by Martin Zweig) shows all of the double 9-to-1 buy signals that occurred from 1962 to October 1994. As of this writing, no signals have occurred since the last one on June 8, 1988.

Table 15
Date DJIA % Change 3 months later % Change 6 months later % Change 12 months later
11/12/62 624 +8.5 +15.9 +20.2
11/19/63 751 +6.9 +9.1 +16.5
10/12/66 778 +6.9 +8.6 +17.4
5/27/70 663 +14.6 +17.8 +16.5
11/19/71 830 +11.8 +17.0 +22.8
9/19/75 830 +1.7 +18.1 +19.9
4/22/80 790 +11.8 +17.0 +22.8
3/22/82 820 -2.4 +13.2 +37.0
8/20/82 869 +15.1 +24.3 +38.4
1/6/83 1,071 +3.9 +14.0 +20.2
8/2/84 1,166 +4.4 +10.6 +16.0
11/23/84 1,220 +4.7 +6.2 +19.3
1/2/87 1,927 +20.4 +26.4 +4.6
10/29/87 1,938 +1.0 +4.9 +10.8
1/4/88 2,015 -1.7 +7.1 +8.0
6/8/88 2,102 -1.9 +1.9 +19.7
AVERAGE +6.4/qtr. +12.5/half +18.4/year

Example

The following chart shows the Dow Jones Industrial Average during most of the 1980s.

I drew "buy" arrows on the chart where double 9-to-1 buy signals occurred.

Calculation

The Upside/Downside Ratio is calculated by dividing the daily volume of advancing stocks by the daily volume of declining stocks.

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This online edition of Technical Analysis from A to Z is reproduced here with permission from the author and publisher.
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