Indicators showing the interest of large funds in the company’s shares

The interest of the biggest market players in a company is a very good signal about its future. The biggest players are able to comprehensively check all the important factors, and when (ideally) several large funds start buying it means that they believe the company’s share price will rise and its prospects are good or very good.

An indicator that shows the interest of mutual funds in a particular company is often the capital flow ratio from institutions, known as “Institutional Ownership” or “Institutional Holdings.” It measures the percentage of a company’s shares that are held by investment institutions, such as pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds or investment banks.

Another related indicator is Net Institutional Purchases, which shows the difference between the number of shares bought and sold by institutions during a given period. This can be expressed as number of shares or dollar value.

Accurate data on institutional movements can be found in the quarterly 13F reports that funds are required to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In these reports, funds must disclose their holdings of shares of US-listed companies.

Another interesting tool is David Ryan’s indicator: Ants – Momentum, Volume and Price (MVP).

This is an analytical tool used in stock trading that helps detect buying activity, especially of institutions.

The name “Ants” comes from the characteristic behavior of these insects, which work in groups and are known for their persistence and hard work. Similarly, the indicator looks for patterns of stock accumulation by large funds, which trade in a large number of small portions so as not to negatively affect the market price.

David Ryan, whose name the indicator bears, is a well-known investor and multiple winner of the prestigious U.S. Investing Championship investment competition. Ryan used technical analysis to find stocks with the potential for strong returns, and his methods included studying institutional buying patterns.

The “Ants” indicator focuses on identifying stocks that show small but consistent price increases while volume increases, which can indicate accumulation by large funds. Such volume and price behavior is seen as potentially bullish, which can be an early buying signal for other investors.

I’ve now heard (only from stories) that there are ideas for a new indicator – based on the reports in which funds show their purchases, a more accurate process of how the market: volume, price and various indicators react to the purchases of the largest will be recreated using AI tools. 

But before this happens (it is not known if such an indicator will be available to the public) we have information on what the David Ryan indicator is and how it works: Ants – Momentum, Volume and Price (MVP).

The “ANTS – Momentum, Volume and Price (MVP)” indicator created by David Ryan is an analytical tool used mainly in the analysis of financial markets, particularly useful in trading stocks, currencies or other financial instruments. Although the name “ANTS” may suggest an analogy with the indicator described in the previous answer on trade processing, in the context of Ryan’s indicator, it means something completely different, focusing on three key aspects: moment (Momentum), volume (Volume) and price (Price).

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