Here's why the OVI is so unique.
- The OVI measures the flow of Big, Smart Money, not price. It does this by creating an oscillator derived from option volatility, volume and open interest. Other indicators such as moving averages, MACD, RSI, Stochastics, Gann, Elliott, Fibonacci etc, are all derived from price. In my experience, price and price pattern are the best indicator of price, so these other indicators must be inferior.
- The OVI is special because it does not lag the market. This gives you a huge advantage! Other oscillators like MACD, Stochastics, moving averages and RSI are smoothed by way of averaging several days of data. This creates a lagging effect, which means often the indicators will signify something only after the market has made its move. This is all very well in theory but not so good in practice where we need something more immediate.
In broad terms, the OVI tends to be positive when the market is going to rise, and negative when the market is going to fall. You can see this clearly with a very liquid, actively traded stock like GS
Source http://www.oviindex.com/
