What is ADTV?
ADTV (Average Daily Traded Value) is the average rupee value changing hands in a stock each trading day, over a trailing window (20 days is the common convention). Unlike share volume alone, it accounts for price - a stock trading 10 lakh shares at ₹50 and one trading 50,000 shares at ₹1,000 can have similar ADTV despite very different volume counts. It’s the standard proxy for liquidity: how easily a given order size can be bought or sold without materially moving the price.
ADTV = Sum of (Daily Volume × Daily Closing Price) over last 20 days / 20
A large institutional order sized at even a small fraction of daily ADTV can move a stock’s price meaningfully if liquidity is thin - this is why fund managers watch ADTV before sizing a position, not just market cap.
Real ADTV across 6 large-cap stocks
CHART
20-Day ADTV - 6 real stocks
Average daily traded value over the trailing 20 sessions, as of 2026-10-01.
Stocks compared: Reliance Industries Ltd · Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. · HDFC Bank Ltd. · Infosys Ltd · ICICI Bank Ltd. · Bharti Airtel Ltd.
Reading the spread
Across these 6 stocks, 20-day average daily traded value runs from 681 Cr (Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.) to 2,138 Cr (HDFC Bank Ltd.), a gap of 1,457 Cr. The middle value is 1,154 Cr, with 3 of 6 above it. The highest reading is 3.1 times the lowest, so the choice of stock changes this number a lot. Neither end is better or worse in itself; the number describes how a stock behaves, and what matters is whether that matches what you want.
How to use it in practice
Average daily traded value shows how much money changes hands in a stock each day, so it is a direct measure of liquidity. A high figure means you can usually buy or sell a meaningful amount without moving the price. A low figure means that large orders will push the price and that exits can be difficult in a falling market. Use it to judge whether a stock fits the size of your position, and compare it with the stock’s market cap.
Common mistakes
ADTV is an average, and liquidity can vanish exactly when you need it, in a panic. A stock with high ADTV is not necessarily safe, and a low one is not necessarily weak; it may simply be a smaller company. Look at the figure over time, not on a single day, and be cautious about position size in thinly traded names.
Frequently asked questions
Why does average daily traded value matter?
Because it shows how easily you can buy or sell. A stock with a low figure can be hard to exit at a fair price, especially in a falling market.
Is ADTV the same as volume?
No. Volume counts shares traded. ADTV measures the rupee value traded, which is more comparable across stocks with very different prices.
What is a good ADTV for an investor?
It depends on the size of your position. As a rule, your trade should be a tiny share of the day’s traded value, so that you do not move the price.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU All 6 large-caps shown here are highly liquid by Indian market standards - ADTV in the hundreds to low-thousands of crore range. Mid-cap and small-cap stocks can show ADTV a hundredth of this or less, which matters directly for retail investors too: a thinly-traded stock can have a much wider bid-ask spread, meaning your actual buy/sell price can differ noticeably from the last-traded price you see quoted.
METHODOLOGY 20-day ADTV computed from each stock’s own daily volume and closing-price history as of 2026-10-01. Data: Punji price history (NSE/BSE). Not investment advice.