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Volume, Flow & Participation Indicators

Money Flow Index

Money Flow Index explained: meaning, chart use, interpretation and limitations.

Also known as: MFI

Volume, Flow & Participation Indicators
Charting / technical-analysis terminology
Descriptive, not a guaranteed forecast

What is Money Flow Index?

The Money Flow Index is a bounded oscillator that combines price and volume to estimate positive and negative money flow over a lookback period.

Money Flow Index matters because it gives analysts a consistent way to discuss volume and participation analysis. Volume-based tools add information about participation and transaction activity that price alone cannot show.

How to read Money Flow Index

Read Money Flow Index with an understanding of what the volume dataset includes. Exchange-traded volume, consolidated equity volume, futures volume and fragmented dealer-market activity are not interchangeable.

What Money Flow Index does not tell you

It focuses on a lower price, range or participation reference and should be read relative to the surrounding timeframe. Parameter choices, timeframe and data quality can materially change the result.

Use in bonds, rates and macro markets

Cash-bond markets are fragmented, so volume measures may represent only a venue or instrument; futures and exchange-traded products often provide cleaner chartable volume. In fragmented OTC bonds, always identify whether the chart uses dealer quotes, reported trades, futures or an exchange-traded proxy.

BondStats interpretation rule

Technical chart structures are context, not certainty. BondStats does not present a candlestick, drawing tool, indicator reading or chart pattern as a standalone investment recommendation. Where a concept depends on discretionary anchors or parameter choices, those choices should be made explicit.