Hello, traders!
As you know it's very important to identify the balance of bulls and bears. Today, we introduce you one of the most pretty and easy-to-interpret tools - Balance Of Power Oscillator.
Balance of Power (BOP) is an oscillator that measures the strength of buying and selling pressure. Introduced by Igor Levshin in the August 2001 issue of Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities magazine, this indicator compares the power of buyers to push prices to higher extremes with the power of sellers to move prices to lower extremes. When the indicator is in positive territory, the bulls are in charge; and sellers dominate when the indicator is negative. A reading near the zero line indicates a balance between the two and can mean a trend reversal.
The Balance of Power indicator shows the direction and extent of price change during the trading period. Like most oscillators, the Balance of Power indicator can be used to identify trends, divergences from price, and overbought/oversold conditions. Zero-line crossovers provide buying and selling signals.
Possible Signals
Zero-Line Crossovers
The scale of this oscillator ranges from -1 to +1, with 0 as the centerline. Zero-line crossovers indicate a move into positive or negative territory, and are often used as buy or sell signals. A cross above the center line generates a buy signal, and a cross below generates a sell signal.
The data is smoothed with a moving average in order to reduce the number of whipsaws. An SMA with more periods reduces the number of false crossover signals, but also reduces the responsiveness of the indicator.
While the main signal provided by the Balance of Power indicator comes from zero-line crossovers, it can also be used to determine the trend, look for divergences in price, and identify overbought/oversold securities.
Trend identification
A rising BOP line indicates an upward trend and a falling BOP line indicates a downward trend. The zero-line crossover confirms the trend change.
Divergences with Price
When price makes new highs but BOP doesn't, that is a negative divergence; when price makes new lows but BOP doesn't, that is a positive divergence. These divergences can foreshadow a change in trend.
Conclusion
The Balance of Power (BOP) indicator uses price to measure buying and selling pressure. It determines the strength of the buyers and sellers by looking at how strongly the price has changed, rather than using volume.
As with all indicators, traders should use the Balance of Power indicator in conjunction with other indicators and analysis techniques.