Advance/Decline Index
a.k.a. Advance/decline line, A/D line
A running count of how many stocks rose minus how many fell each day, used to judge how broad a…
In plain English
A running count of how many stocks rose minus how many fell each day, used to judge how broad a stock-market move is.
The advance/decline index takes the number of rising stocks, subtracts the falling ones, and adds the result to yesterday's total. It measures breadth: is the whole army marching, or are a few generals dragging the index?
If an index like the S&P 500 makes new highs while the A/D line sags, only a handful of giant stocks are doing the lifting. That kind of divergence is an early warning that the rally is thinner than it looks.
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