Chaikin Money Flow¶

Indicators · Volume

Chaikin Money Flow — N-period money-flow volume ratio.

Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) measures whether money has been flowing into or out of an instrument over a recent window, on a scale of −1 to +1. Marc Chaikin's insight was that where a bar closes within its range reveals buying or selling pressure: closes near the high mean buyers dominated, closes near the low mean sellers did. Weight that by volume and sum it over a period, and you get a clean read of accumulation (positive) versus distribution (negative).

How it works¶

For each bar the block computes a "money flow multiplier" from where the close sits in the bar's range — ((close − low) − (high − close)) / (high − low), which runs from +1 (close on the high) to −1 (close on the low). It multiplies that by volume to get money-flow volume, then divides the sum of money-flow volume by the sum of volume over the Period (default 20). The result oscillates around zero between −1 and +1: sustained positive readings mean accumulation, sustained negative mean distribution. The output is a single line in a sub-pane.

When to use it¶

Use CMF to gauge the prevailing pressure and confirm trends. CMF holding above zero supports a bullish view; below zero, bearish. The zero-line cross is a slow pressure-shift signal. Its strongest use, like most volume tools, is divergence — price rising while CMF fades toward zero warns the buying is drying up. It's a context/confirmation tool rather than a precise entry trigger, and on forex it relies on tick volume.

Example¶

Chaikin Money Flow on the EURUSD H1 chart — Chaikin Money Flow on EURUSD · H1

Trend confirmation: wire bars into CMF and require it above zero (buying pressure) via a Greater Than against 0, combined with your long trigger through an And gate into a Buy Signal — so you only buy when money flow agrees. Backtest in the Tester.

Tips & gotchas¶

Reads close-within-range × volume — where price settles in the bar is the core idea.
Zero is the pivot. Above = accumulation, below = distribution; the cross is a slow shift signal.
Divergence warns of drying flow — its best predictive use.
A gap bar can mislead it — CMF uses the bar's own range, so a big gap (close inside a small range) can distort a single reading.

Inputs¶

Socket	Type	What to wire in
Bars	`bars`	Price bars

Outputs¶

Output	Type	Plots as	Description
CMF	`series`	Line · sub-pane	CMF (−1..+1)

Parameters¶

Parameter	Type	Default	What it does
Period	number · 2–200	`20`
Line color	colour	`#26a69a`

Reference auto-generated from the block catalog · category Indicators.