Positive Volume Index (PVI)
Calculate the Positive Volume Index (PVI) for a given price series.
The Positive Volume Index mirrors the Negative Volume Index: it is a cumulative index that only updates on days where volume increases from the prior period, compounding that day’s percentage price change onto the running index; on days where volume decreases (or stays flat), the index is carried forward unchanged. Per Fosback, the Positive Volume Index isolates price behaviour on high-volume (crowd-driven) days, which is traditionally read as tracking less-informed, sentiment-driven trading.
The formula is as follows:
\[\operatorname{Index}(t) = \operatorname{Index}(t-1) \cdot (1 + (\operatorname{Close}(t) / \operatorname{Close}(t-1) - 1)) \text{if Volume} (t) > \operatorname{Volume}(t-1)\] \[\operatorname{Index}(t) = \operatorname{Index}(t-1) \text{otherwise}\]Also known as: PVI, Positive Volume Index.
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Calculate the Positive Volume Index (PVI) in Python
The Positive Volume Index (PVI) is available in the Technicals module of the open-source Finance Toolkit. Install it with:
pip install financetoolkit -U
Then call get_positive_volume_index as shown below.
from financetoolkit import Toolkit
toolkit = Toolkit(tickers=["AAPL", "MSFT"])
toolkit.technicals.get_positive_volume_index()
Parameters
get_positive_volume_index accepts the following parameters:
- period (str, optional): The time period to consider for historical data. Can be “daily”, “weekly”, “quarterly”, or “yearly”. Defaults to “daily”.
- close_column (str, optional): The column name for closing prices in the historical data. Defaults to “Adj Close”.
- start_value (float, optional): The index value to start the series at. Defaults to 1000.0.
- rounding (int | None, optional): The number of decimals to round the results to. Defaults to 4.
- growth (bool, optional): Whether to calculate the growth of the Positive Volume Index. Defaults to False.
- lag (int | list[int], optional): The lag to use for the growth calculation.
- standardize (bool, optional): Whether to standardize (Z-Score) the result. When combined with growth=True, standardizes the growth values instead of the raw values. Defaults to False. Defaults to 1.
Related Breadth Indicators
The Technicals module page introduces the module, and the sidebar lists all of its functions.