Regular VWAP: The average price of a stock during a trading day, weighted by how much volume traded at each price.
Every trade that happens after the market opens gets factored in.
Bigger trades (higher volume) pull the average more than small ones.
It starts fresh at the open every morning and keeps updating until the close.
Anchored VWAP is just a smarter version of the regular VWAP.
What "anchored" means
With Anchored VWAP, you choose the starting point instead of the market open. You "anchor" it to a specific candle or event, for example:
Yesterday's high or low
An earnings gap
A big news candle
A major swing high/low
From that exact moment forward, it calculates the volume-weighted average price all the way up to the current bar.
In plain English
It's the average price paid by everyone who has traded since that important moment, with bigger volume counting more.
Traders use it as a dynamic support/resistance level. If price is holding above an Anchored VWAP, it often means buyers who entered from that point are still in control. If it breaks below, those buyers are underwater.
That's it. Same math as regular VWAP, just with a custom starting point that you choose.
The orange line begins exactly on the anchor date and then drifts gradually as more sessions accumulate. Above the line means the average buyer since that day is profitable, below it means they are underwater.
The Math Behind Anchored VWAPs
The calculation is built on three elements: the price of each bar, the volume weight applied to it, and the date where the VWAP starts.
1. The average price
Instead of using only the close, each daily bar contributes its average price:
Average price = (High + Low + Close) ÷ 3
2. Weighting by volume
Each average price is multiplied by that session's volume. The running total of those values is then divided by the running total of volume:
Anchored VWAP = Σ(tp × volume) ÷ Σ(volume)
Example
Suppose two sessions have passed since the anchor:
Session 1: average price $100 on 1 million shares
Session 2: average price $94 on 3 million shares
A simple average of the two days is $97.00. The volume-weighted average is:
($100 × 1M + $94 × 3M) ÷ 4M = $95.50
3. Why later sessions move the line less
The calculation keeps adding every session's volume from the starting point and never starts over.
Early on, the total volume is still small, so one new day can move the VWAP line a lot.
Later on, the total volume has grown very large. One new day is only a tiny fraction of that total, so it moves the line a lot less.
The Eight Anchor Points
The tool runs 8 anchors on every ticker at once.
52-Week High
VWAP starts on the day that had the highest intraday high of the last 52 weeks.
52-Week Low
VWAP starts on the day that had the lowest intraday low of the last 52 weeks.
Year-to-Date
VWAP starts on the first session of the current calendar year. On January 2 the anchor is only 1 session old; by December it is nearly a year deep.
Quarter-to-Date
VWAP starts on the first trading day on or after January 1, April 1, July 1, or October 1.
Month-to-Date
VWAP starts on the first trading day on or after the 1st of the current month.
Past 1 Year
The anchor starts on the first trading day of the past 12 months. It moves forward every day and is never fixed to a specific date.
Highest Volume Day
VWAP starts on the single highest-volume session of the last 12 months. This is usually a capitulation event or a catalyst reaction.
Last Earnings
VWAP starts on the reaction bar for the most recent reported quarter, based on the company's actual filing dates.
A report released before the open anchors to that same session.
A report released after the close anchors to the next session.
ETFs do not report earnings, so this column remains blank for them.
Notes
Quarter-to-date and month-to-date overlap 4 times a year. In January, April, July and October the quarter and the month begin on the same session, so both columns show the same level until the following month starts.
Year-to-Date and Past 1 Year work very differently. Year-to-Date is fixed to the start of the calendar year and grows longer every day until it resets in January. Past 1 Year is a rolling 12-month window.
In early January the gap between them is at its widest: one is only a few sessions old, while the other is still calculating the previous 12 months.
Tool Glossary
The Basics
VWAP
Volume-weighted average price: the average price traded, weighted by how much volume changed hands at each price. The regular VWAP your broker shows starts at the open and resets every morning.
Anchored VWAP
A VWAP that starts from a date you pick instead of the session open. This tool runs 8 of them at once, one per column.
Candle (OHLC)
One bar of price data: the open, high, low and close. Each daily bar contributes its average price, (high + low + close) divided by 3, to the anchored VWAP.
Session
One trading day. Time in this tool is measured in sessions rather than calendar days, so weekends and holidays are skipped.
The Levels
Support and Resistance
Price levels where buying or selling has repeatedly shown up. Traders treat an anchored VWAP as a moving version of this: holding above it means buyers since the anchor are still in control.
52-Week Low
The lowest price over the past year. This tool's 52-Week Low column starts the VWAP on the day that printed that low.
Earnings Gap
The move from the close before a report to the open of the first session after it. The Last Earnings column starts on that reaction bar: the same session if the report landed before the open, the next session if it landed after the close.