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Indicators

What Is the CCI Indicator

The Commodity Channel Index is a reading of how far today's price sits from the middle of its last twenty days, measured in units of a typical day's distance from that middle: zero at the middle, about 100 one typical step away, and no top or bottom to the scale. This paper shows you the Dow's readings of 2025 drawn from real bars — −362 in the April fall, +224 in the summer rise — the idea as the bubble in a spirit level, the line under the daily chart, the arithmetic for one day, and the dialog on your platform.

Difficulty
Intermediate
Reading time
5 min
Pages
8
Reviewed by
Saman Rahbar

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How far from the middle

The Commodity Channel Index — CCI, and the name is older than its use, since it is put on anything with a price — is a reading of how far today's price sits from the middle of its last twenty days. Zero is the middle. The units are a typical day's distance from that middle, scaled so that one typical step reads about 100. On 4 April 2025, in the Dow's sharp fall, the reading was −362: three and a half typical steps below the middle. On 1 July, in the rise, it was +224. The scale has no top and no bottom.

A spirit level

The picture is a spirit level. When the surface is level the bubble sits in the middle; tilt it and the bubble slides toward one end, and the marks on the glass say how far. CCI is the bubble. The middle is the average of the last twenty days, the marks are set one typical day's distance apart, and the reading is how many marks the bubble is from the centre. Past the outer marks at 100 and −100 the price is further from its middle than it usually gets, and the glass keeps going.

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