Choppiness Index Oil Technical Analysis & Choppiness Index Trading Signals

Developed by E.W. Dreiss

Choppiness Index was designed to be an easy but practical indicator to help Oil traders to determine if the crude oil prices are trending or consolidating.

This Indicator is similar to ADX which is also designed to evaluate the strength or momentum of a oil trend and determine if the oil market is trending or consolidating.

The Choppiness Index uses a scale of between 0 & 100. It also typically uses upper & lower bands at 61.8 & 38.2 respectively.

This oil indicator is drawn by first calculating the true range for each period & then adding the values of n-periods.

Second, it calculates the highest value & lowest value over n-periods & calculates their difference.

Third, it divides the sum of the true ranges & calculates the base-10 logarithm of this value.

Finally, it divides this value by the base-10 logarithm of n-periods & multiplies the results by 100.

Oil Technical Analysis and Generating Crude Trading Signals

Choppiness Index is a directionless indicator meaning it does not determine in which direction the crude oil market is moving.

Its basic principle is that the more heavily the oil market is trending over the last number of n-periods the closer to zero the Choppiness Index will be and the more heavily the oil market is consolidating that is moving sideways in a ranging or chopping manner, over the last n-periods the closer to 100 the Choppiness Index will be.

Indicator values of above 61.8 indicate that the oil market is ranging/ choppy (moving sideways and consolidating).

Higher values occur during/after a strong consolidation phase. Higher values could also be interpreted as a signal of a potential upcoming break out after a significant consolidation has occurred.

Choppiness Index values of below 38.2 indicate that the oil market is trending.

Lower values occur during/after a strong trending phase. Lower values could also be interpreted as a signal of a potential upcoming consolidation & choppiness after a strong oil trend phase has occurred.