"There's an element of institutional-level business that recognizes the edge obtained from seasoned service coupled with expert executions. I exist to provide that edge for those institutions."
– Bill Peters
Futures & Options Broker
Volume
Interactive Chart Study List
Volume can provide insight into the strength or weakness of a price trend. This study has no calculations. The values for volume are transmitted from the exchanges. However, the actual volume figures are always one day behind price information. You will not know Monday’s volume until Tuesday at approximately noon (for U.S. markets - central time). That is due to the exchanges and their reporting requirements.
Volume displays the volume of an instrument. It can be plotted as a line-chart or a histogram. It is not currently applicable for Intraday charts and will never be applicable for Tick charts, due to the nature of the data.
Interpretation
Volume is usually displayed as a histogram where each bar corresponds to a specified time frame, day, week, month, etc.
Volume can suggest the strength or weakness of a price trend. When a market is trending upward, the general expectation is that investors will want to buy. If Volume bars reach high values during a market uptrend, this uptrend is considered solid, whereas if the uptrend begins to fall while volume values are still high, the uptrend is considered to be losing momentum.
Low volume levels typically occur during the indecisive period in market bottoms and during indecisive expectations in consolidation periods - for example, periods of choppy, sideways market movement.
High volume levels occur during market tops, when the expectations that prices will rise, are strong. High volume levels also occur at the beginning of new trends, when prices break out. Volume may also increase just before market bottoms.
Back to: Technical Analysis Learning Center | Futures Quotes + Charts
Content Source: FutureSource
