V
Volume context
Compare current activity with the asset’s recent baseline. A large bar matters more when it is unusual for that market.
Lesson · Market Structure
Volume & relative strength
Price shows direction. Volume helps you judge participation. Relative strength asks whether the asset is actually leading or lagging its benchmark—even when both charts are green or both are falling. The drills at the end measure both: judge whether an event bar expanded against its own baseline, and whether the asset leads or lags once both series are normalized.
Compare volume to its own baseline
What each lens contributes
Neither volume nor relative strength replaces structure. They add evidence about participation and leadership.
✓
Follow-through
High volume can accompany continuation or exhaustion. The next candles reveal whether the price move was accepted.
RS
Relative strength
Normalize the asset and benchmark, then compare performance. This is not the RSI momentum indicator.
Price + volume laboratory
Inspect the event bar, its volume relative to baseline, and what price does afterward. The baseline here is the average of the ten bars before the event bar — activity is judged against the market's own recent habit, not an absolute number.
Relative-strength comparator
Both series start at 100, so their paths show percentage performance rather than raw price differences.
Participation drill
Score 0 / 0Judge the event bar against the ten bars before it, then let the follow-through decide.
Leadership drill
Score 0 / 0Compare percentage performance, not whether each return is positive or negative.
A practical confirmation stack
1
Structure firstDefine the trend, range boundary, breakout, or protected swing before interpreting volume.
2
Participation secondCompare event volume with recent activity and note whether up or down candles attract more participation.
3
Leadership thirdPrefer assets whose performance is improving against the benchmark when that agrees with your directional thesis.
4
Follow-through decidesA breakout with impressive volume can still fail; acceptance after the event remains essential.