Market facilitation index
Not to be confused with the Money Flow Index above — this divides the period's price range by its volume, gauging how efficiently the market is moving price per unit of volume traded.
What the numbers mean
Nothing to set — this one is read straight off price or volume, with no lookback period or multiplier behind it.
How it is used
Read in combination with volume rather than alone: range up with volume up means the market is moving efficiently, range up with volume down means a move with little behind it, and range down with volume up means heavy trading that is going nowhere — often the sign of a fight at a level.
- Range up, volume up → the market is moving efficiently (“green”)
- Range up, volume down → a move with little participation (“fade”)
- Range down, volume up → heavy trading going nowhere; a fight at a level (“squat”)
- Range down, volume down → the market losing interest
How it relates to everything else
MFI is read as a four-state combination with volume rather than as a number, and it belongs to Bill Williams' toolkit alongside the Alligator and the Awesome Oscillator. The value has no natural scale, so only the bar-to-bar pattern matters.
- Four states, each combining range direction with volume direction
- Part of the Williams system with the Alligator and AO
- Shares the abbreviation MFI with the Money Flow Index, which is unrelated
What to watch for
The value has no natural scale and cannot be compared across securities or timeframes; only the bar-to-bar pattern matters.