Volume

See the trading activity behind every candle — volume confirms whether price moves are backed by real participation or likely to fade.

What is Volume?

Volume displays the total number of units traded during each candle as a histogram below the price chart. It is the simplest and most fundamental measure of market participation. Every price move tells you where the market went, but volume tells you how much conviction was behind that move.

Green bars appear when the candle closes higher than it opened (buying pressure), and red bars appear when the candle closes lower than it opened (selling pressure). The height of each bar represents the total volume traded during that candle — taller bars mean more activity, shorter bars mean less.

When buy/sell volume delta data is available, the indicator can also break down each bar into its buy and sell components, showing you not just total volume but the directional split. This adds another layer of insight — a green candle with majority sell volume tells a very different story than one with majority buy volume.

Key Concepts

• Volume Histogram: Vertical bars below the chart, sized by the total units traded per candle. This is the most basic and universally used way to visualize market activity
• Green Bars: The candle closed above its open — this is generally interpreted as buying pressure, though it does not necessarily mean buyers dominated the entire candle
• Red Bars: The candle closed below its open — interpreted as selling pressure. Large red bars at key levels often signal capitulation or aggressive distribution
• Volume Confirmation: A price move accompanied by high volume is more likely to sustain. A price move on low volume is suspect and more likely to reverse — “volume precedes price” is one of the oldest principles in technical analysis
• Volume Delta: When available, this breaks each bar into buy volume and sell volume, showing the net directional flow. A candle with 60% buy volume and 40% sell volume has a positive delta, confirming buying dominance

How to Use Volume

1. Open Chart from the sidebar and navigate to the indicator settings
2. Enable the Volume indicator
3. The volume histogram will appear below your price chart with green and red bars
4. Compare volume bar heights across the chart to identify periods of unusual activity
5. Always check volume when evaluating breakouts, breakdowns, and key level tests

What to Look For

• Bullish signals: A breakout above resistance accompanied by a significant volume spike confirms that buyers are committing capital to the move. Increasing volume on up candles with decreasing volume on pullbacks indicates healthy accumulation. A volume climax (extreme spike) after a prolonged downtrend often marks capitulation and a potential bottom.
• Bearish signals: Price rallying on diminishing volume shows that buyers are losing interest — the rally is likely to fail. A breakdown below support with heavy volume confirms that sellers are in control and the level has been lost. Distribution patterns feature high volume on down candles and low volume on up candles as large players sell into rallies.
• Key patterns: Volume divergence — when price makes a new high but volume is lower than the previous high — is a warning that momentum is fading and a reversal may follow. Volume spikes at support or resistance levels indicate that a significant battle is happening between buyers and sellers. Consistently low volume during a trend suggests the move is running on thin participation and is vulnerable to reversal.
• Combine with: SMA/EMA to confirm whether trend-following signals have volume backing, Bollinger Bands to validate squeeze breakouts with volume participation, VWAP since both are volume-based tools that reinforce each other, Trade Footprint for granular per-price-level volume breakdown within individual candles

Supported Exchanges

Tips

• Volume is relative — what counts as “high” or “low” volume depends on the asset and timeframe. Compare current bars to the recent average rather than using absolute numbers
• The highest volume bars of the day often occur at the open and close of major trading sessions (US, Asian, European) — use these as natural reference points
• A breakout on low volume is one of the most common traps in trading. Always wait for volume confirmation before committing to a breakout trade
• When combining volume with price patterns (head and shoulders, triangles, flags), volume should contract during the pattern formation and expand on the breakout — this is the textbook confirmation of a valid pattern