# What is the correct way of calculating the "average" price based on the "Open,High,Low,Close" daily trade fields?

Open,High,Low,Close

I have these fields, representing the "opening" amount, the highest for the day, the lowest for the day, and what it closed at.

I'm trying to determine the "average" price for the day.

I currently do this:

(Open + High + Low + Close) / 4


Is this correct? I get slightly different numbers if I do:

(High + Low) / 2


Which one is correct? Or, most common/used?

• In an ideal scenario, I think you need transaction data with volume and price for each transaction. Then you can calculate weighted mean. Oct 30 '20 at 7:50
• Since many sources only give close data, fairly typical to use the close. Argument is that almost all the information released on a day has settled by then. The open/hi/lo information is used for candlestick charts. Oct 30 '20 at 12:10

You cannot obtain that information with the data provided.

You would need periodic samples throughout the day.

• Well, I don't have that data. Then what am I calculating with my algorithms? Oct 30 '20 at 6:13

I would use A = (low + high)/2. I am not aware of this being a common technical indicator.

In regard to common practices "VWAP" refers to any algorithm that calculates a volume weighted average price. I have seen a few references that define simple VWAP = volume x (low + high + close)/3.