The Chaikin Money Flow was developed by Marc Chaikin. It helps measure buying and selling pressure and the amount of money flow volume over a selected period, usually 20-21 days. It is an oscillator that fluctuates between -1 and +1 and can be used to characterize a general buying or selling bias.

When the CMF is positive money flow favors the bulls and when the CMF is negative money flow favors the bears.

The Chaikin Money Flow is calculated as follows:

Money Flow Multiplier = (Close - Low) - (High - Close)  /  High - Low
Money Flow Volume = Money Flow Multiplier * Volume for the Period

20-period CMF = 20-period Sum of Money Flow Volume  /  20-period Sum of Volume