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Accumulation/Distribution

Overview​

The Accumulation/Distribution profile highlights industries and themes where institutional buying or selling pressure has become unusually strong. It helps you spot groups under steady accumulation, groups under clear distribution, and areas where flow may confirm a breakout, warn of weakness, or hint at a larger rotation already underway.

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This profile updates in real time and applies filters automatically to highlight groups with extreme Accumulation/Distribution readings. It is useful for tracking institutional pressure, flow-backed reversals, and breakout or breakdown conditions with stronger participation behind them.

Strategy Focus​

  • Detect institutional buying and selling pressure across industries and themes
  • Separate accumulation-led strength from distribution-led weakness
  • Confirm price moves with flow data instead of relying on price alone
  • Spot early rotation before it becomes obvious in broader market performance
  • Use Top Alpha Setups and group ratings to connect flow with current opportunity
  • Build watchlists around strong pressure trends ahead of earnings, catalysts, or macro shifts

Filters Applied​

This profile uses a dual filter with an OR condition:

  • Accumulation/Distribution Score ≥ 3
  • Accumulation/Distribution Score ≤ -3

A group appears if it is showing either strong institutional accumulation or strong institutional distribution over the recent quarter.

Metrics Used​

Group Identity and Structure​

  • Industry / Theme: Identifies the group so you can compare flow behavior across industries and themes.
  • Tickers: Shows how many companies are in the group, which helps frame the breadth of the signal.

Institutional Flow Signal​

  • Accumulation/Distribution Score: The main filter and sorting metric. It measures institutional buying or selling pressure using price and volume behavior over the last quarter.

Price and Volume Context​

  • Change Post (%): Adds post-market context and helps show whether late-session price behavior aligns with the flow signal.
  • Change From Close (%): Tracks regular-session movement and helps confirm whether buying or selling pressure is showing up in price.
  • Total Volume (%): Shows how much of the market’s total volume is concentrated in the group.
  • Relative Volume: Compares current group activity with its usual pace, helping confirm conviction and urgency.

Group Ratings and Trend Context​

  • Group Rating 1 Day: Shows current-session strength or weakness and helps connect the flow signal with live performance.
  • Group Rating 1 Year: Adds longer-term context so you can judge whether the flow is supporting an existing trend or challenging it.

Relative Strength Breadth​

  • Rel. Strength 1 Day 90+ (%): Shows the percentage of companies with strong short-term performance inside the group.
  • Rel. Strength 1 Year 90+ (%): Shows the percentage of companies with strong longer-term relative strength.

Return Trend​

  • Return Year to Date (%): Helps place recent flow in the context of the group’s broader yearly trend.

Fundamental Snapshot​

  • EPS Rating: Adds earnings-quality context and helps show whether stronger flow is entering fundamentally stronger or weaker groups.
  • Sales Rating: Adds revenue-growth context to the move.
  • Profit Rating: Adds profitability context and helps separate higher-quality groups from weaker ones.

Earnings and Structural Confirmation​

  • Reports Earnings Within 1 Week: Highlights near-term catalysts that may reinforce or disrupt the flow trend.
  • Top Alpha Setups: Shows whether strong institutional pressure is also translating into concentrated setup activity.
  • Last Price > Prev. High (%): Helps confirm breakout behavior inside accumulated groups.
  • Last Price < Prev. Low (%): Helps confirm breakdown behavior inside distributed groups.
  • Positive RSI Divergence 14D (%): Adds bullish divergence context and can help confirm stealth accumulation.
  • Negative RSI Divergence 14D (%): Adds bearish divergence context and can help warn of exhaustion or deeper weakness.
  • Tight Range (%): Highlights compression where accumulation or distribution may soon resolve into a clearer move.

Default Sorting Logic​

Results are sorted by Accumulation/Distribution Score in descending order, placing the most heavily accumulated groups at the top and the most heavily distributed groups at the bottom.

Practical Use Cases​

  • Identify groups under steady accumulation before breakouts become obvious
  • Track distribution clusters that may signal early deterioration or rotation out
  • Use Ticker Screener to isolate the companies driving the flow shift inside a group
  • Open Multi-Charts to compare structure across accumulated and distributed groups
  • Review Group Viewer to study volume, divergence, ratings, and setup concentration in more detail
  • Build flow-based watchlists around institutional conviction, trend change, or setup confirmation