Accumulation/Distribution

Accumulation distribution is kind of the applause meter referring to whether investors are buying or selling shares of a given stock, as metered and measured by how the stock price does, relative to the volumes in trading of that stock. So for example, if a stock is flat on massive volumes, like three times the normal rate on a given day, then someone is probably dumping the stock, because in theory, there simply wouldn't be a buyer of huge size on a flat day (and this presumes a flat market).

Normally, when a big seller is selling, you'd expect the stock to go down. In this case, think: "Accumulation" = buyers have positive sentiment and are buying up the excess liquidity in the market; "Distribution" = owners are selling shares, because sentiment is bearish on that given stock, relative to everything else.

That's the ratio, anyway, and it's a Thing that is actually tracked.