The volume-weighted average price (VWAP) is a technical analysis indicator used on intraday charts that resets at the start of every new trading session.
It’s a trading benchmark that represents the average price a security has traded at throughout the day, based on both volume and price.
VWAP is important because it provides traders with pricing insight into both the trend and value of a security.
VWAP is used in different ways by traders. Traders may use VWAP as a trend confirmation tool and build trading rules around it. For instance, they may consider stocks with prices below VWAP as undervalued and those with prices above it, overvalued. If prices below VWAP move above it, traders may go long on the stock. If prices above VWAP move below it, they may sell their positions or initiate short positions.
Institutional buyers including mutual funds use VWAP to help move into or out of stocks with as small of a market impact as possible. Therefore, when they can, institutions will try to buy below the VWAP, or sell above it. This way their actions push the price back toward the average, instead of away from it.
VWAP is a single-day indicator and restarts at the open of each new trading day. Attempting to create an average VWAP over many days could distort it and result in an incorrect indicator.
While some institutions may prefer to buy when the price of a security is below the VWAP, or sell when it is above, VWAP is not the only factor to consider. In strong uptrends, the price may continue to move higher for many days without dropping below the VWAP at all or only occasionally. Therefore, waiting for the price to fall below VWAP could mean a missed opportunity if prices are rising quickly.
VWAP is based on historical values and does not inherently have predictive qualities or calculations. VWAP is anchored to the opening price range of the day. Therefore, the indicator increases its lag as the day goes on.
VWAP gives traders a smoothed-out indication of a security’s price (adjusted for volume) over time. It is used by institutional traders to ensure that their trades do not move the price of the security they are trying to buy or sell too extremely.
The Volume Weighted Price Index is a technical analysis indicator used by traders to determine that the average price of a security is based on both price and volume.
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