Quiet institutional buying (accumulation) or gradual hidden selling (distribution).
The idea
Accumulation / Distribution (Accumulation / Distribution) describes how big money behaves out of sight. Accumulation is patient buying spread over weeks so the seller does not push the price up. Distribution is gradual selling into strength so buyers do not panic. Both come before a big move and neither announces itself.
Their footprint on the chart
Accumulation: a dull sideways range after a decline, where selling pushes shrink, attempts to break the low get absorbed, and volume indicators quietly improve. Distribution: closely spaced highs after a long rise, rallies that get sold, and volume that fades on the way up and thickens on the way down.
The indicator that carries the name
The accumulation/distribution line adds each session's share of volume, weighted by where the close sits in the range (near the high counts as accumulation, near the low as distribution). It is a close relative of the money-flow family and is read the same way: by direction and divergence, not by value.
Hypothetical example
After a 30% drop, a stock spends three dull months between $20 and $22. Every dip toward $20 gets bought fast and the accumulation line climbs quietly. That is the footprint of patient buying, and the upside break that follows finds its fuel ready.
Common mistake
Calling every sideways range accumulation: some ranges are just a lack of interest followed by a break down. The real footprint needs volume as a witness, not shape alone.
What sets it apart from simple volume indicators
It does not stop at the color of the session. It weighs where the close falls within the candle's range: a close near the high counts as accumulation even if the candle is red, and a close near the low counts as distribution even if it is green. This weighting lets it catch what a single candle hides, and reveals quiet accumulation in a sideways range before the breakout.
Where to see it on the platform
The volume indicators in the quantitative tools draw the line, and the chart-pattern pages in the Academy explain the stages of the full cycle.
The technical chart shows it in the volume family, and it is read alongside relative volume to spot the unusual day.
