# normalized accumulation distribution

I am looking for a way to take an accumulation/distribution indicator and normalize it so I can compare a bunch of stocks with stock prices that have no relationship with each other. EDIT: This would be straightforward on interday data, but the problem is with intraday data: you can't get an intraday normalized volume measure, because the volume is always skewed where there is huge volume in the first and last half out, and relatively meaningless volume otherwise.

What I am currently doing is dividing the different AD measures by 1,000 and then capping at +/-80 anything above/below that:

closeVsLow = (close - low) ;
closeVsHigh = (high - close) ;
closeVsOpen = (close - open) ;
myrange = (high - low) ;
myVolume = volume;

AD= ((closeVsLow - closeVsHigh) / myrange) * volume;
pvalue = acdOne / 1000;
if (pvalue > 80) then pValue = 80;
if (pvalue < -80) then pValue = -80;


Is there a better way of normalizing this?

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Couldn't you just look at the CLV? That's the AD you have above without the volume component. Every stock will thus be in the same range of -1 to +1. –  chrisaycock Sep 22 '12 at 13:31
You're right about the CLV, but in this case the volume is the most important piece. This is an intr-day indicator, and AD is the only intra-day volume indicator that is actually useful. Other intraday volume measures are useless..they just show huge volume beginning/end of day, and relatively nothing happen in between. –  user994179 Sep 22 '12 at 16:44

If I understand well, one part of your analytic is already normalized ((closeVsLow - closeVsHigh) / myrange), but not the other (volume). If you just aim to compare the values of AD from any stock with the other, why not normalizing volumeby the usual daily volume (median of the daily volume) of the stock during the last 60 days?