TickIndex

The TICK Index — the instantaneous net of advancing minus declining issues across a universe. Unlike the cumulative A/D Line it is not accumulated: each tick reports the breadth of that snapshot alone.

Quick reference

Item	Value
Family	Market Breadth
Input type	CrossSection — the per-symbol state of the whole universe
Output type	f64 (net issue count; may be negative)
Output range	-N..=N for a universe of N symbols
Default parameters	none
Warmup period	1
Interpretation	Instantaneous market breadth

Formula

tick = advancers - decliners   # per tick, by sign of each member's change; not cumulative

where advancers is the count of symbols with a positive change and decliners the count with a negative change. The reading oscillates around zero. Stateless per tick and O(universe size). See crates/wickra-core/src/indicators/tick_index.rs.

Parameters

None. Construct with TickIndex::new().

Parameter	Type	Default	Source
—	—	—	None.

Inputs / Outputs

Indicator<Input = CrossSection, Output = f64>:

use wickra::{CrossSection, Indicator, TickIndex};

const _: fn(&mut TickIndex, CrossSection) -> Option<f64> =
    <TickIndex as Indicator>::update;

The bindings pass a tick as four equal-length parallel arrays:

• Python: update(change, volume, new_high, new_low); batch(...) returns a 1-D ndarray.
• Node: update(change, volume, newHigh, newLow); batch returns number[].
• WASM: update(change, volume, newHigh, newLow) only; flag arrays are numeric.

Warmup

warmup_period() == 1; defined from the first tick (tests accessors_and_metadata, positive_when_advancers_lead).

Edge cases

• Sign. Positive when advancers lead, negative when decliners lead (tests positive_when_advancers_lead, negative_when_decliners_lead).
• Not cumulative. Each reading is independent of the previous one (test does_not_accumulate).
• Reset. reset() returns the indicator to not-ready (test reset_clears_state).
• Invalid / empty universe. Rejected at construction by CrossSection::new.

Examples

Rust

use wickra::{CrossSection, Indicator, Member, TickIndex};

let mut tick = TickIndex::new();
// 2 advancers, 5 decliners -> net -3.
let snapshot = CrossSection::new(
    vec![
        Member::new(1.0, 10.0, false, false),
        Member::new(1.0, 10.0, false, false),
        Member::new(-1.0, 10.0, false, false),
        Member::new(-1.0, 10.0, false, false),
        Member::new(-1.0, 10.0, false, false),
        Member::new(-1.0, 10.0, false, false),
        Member::new(-1.0, 10.0, false, false),
    ],
    0,
)?;
assert_eq!(tick.update(snapshot), Some(-3.0));

Python

import wickra as ta

tick = ta.TickIndex()
change = [1.0, 1.0, -1.0, -1.0, -1.0]
print(tick.update(change, [10.0] * 5, [False] * 5, [False] * 5))
# -1.0   (2 up, 3 down)

Node

const { TickIndex } = require('wickra');

const tick = new TickIndex();
const flags = [false, false, false, false, false];
console.log(tick.update([1, 1, -1, -1, -1], [10, 10, 10, 10, 10], flags, flags));
// -1

Streaming

import wickra as ta

tick = ta.TickIndex()
print(tick.update([1.0, 1.0, 1.0], [10.0] * 3, [False] * 3, [False] * 3))  # 3.0
print(tick.update([-1.0], [10.0], [False], [False]))                       # -1.0 (independent)

Interpretation

The TICK is a real-time breadth oscillator, classically the count of NYSE issues on an uptick minus those on a downtick.

1. Extremes. Strongly positive readings mark a broad surge of upticks (often an intraday overbought extreme), strongly negative a broad flush — traders fade extremes.
2. Zero line. Persistent readings above/below zero set the intraday bias.
3. Snapshot, not trend. Because it does not accumulate, the TICK measures the moment; pair it with the cumulative A/D Line for the trend.

Common pitfalls

• Not a line. Do not expect the TICK to trend — it is a per-snapshot reading.
• Universe-bounded. The magnitude is capped by the universe size; compare readings only within a fixed universe.
• Resolution matters. The "change" is whatever interval you build the tick on; a 1-second TICK and a daily TICK are different animals.

References

• Colby, R. W. (2002). The Encyclopedia of Technical Market Indicators (2nd ed.) — TICK / breadth oscillators.

See also

• Indicator-AbsoluteBreadthIndex — the magnitude of the same net.
• Indicator-AdvanceDecline — the cumulative line.
• Indicators-Overview — the full taxonomy.