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Volume
The number of shares or contracts traded during a period. It measures participation.
Lesson · Volume and Order Flow
Volume Fundamentals
Say what a volume figure counts and what it cannot say, separate participation from direction, and read price progress together with trading activity.
Core concepts
What to understand
Keep the interpretation direct: participation, aggressive side, and actual price progress.
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Price progress
Price moving upward or downward shows which side is successfully pushing the auction.
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Context
High or low volume matters relative to the instrument, timeframe, and recent baseline.
Interactive lab
Change the market conditions
Use the controls and read the “What the market is doing” explanation after each change.
Volume Fundamentals Lab
Synthetic educational data · no live market connection
MARKET DATA
Reading process
Follow the reading steps
Do not jump from one number to a trade. Describe the evidence first.
Start with price
Is price rising, falling, or staying in a range?
Compare volume
Is participation expanding, normal, or contracting?
State the behavior
Say what buyers and sellers are doing without predicting the next candle.
Knowledge check
Check your interpretation
Select one answer for each question. Feedback appears immediately.
1. What does volume directly measure?
Volume measures how much trading occurred, not whether price must rise or fall.
2. Price rises on expanding volume. What is the simplest reading?
Price progress is upward and participation is expanding; continuation is still not guaranteed.
3. Price is flat while volume is very high. What may be happening?
Large activity without price progress can indicate opposing liquidity absorbing aggressive orders.
4. A bar prints 5,000 contracts of volume. How many of them were bought, and how many sold?
Every contract traded was bought by one party and sold by another. Volume of 5,000 means 5,000 changed hands; it never means net buying.
Practical rules
- Volume alone is not bullish or bearish.
- Compare volume with a recent baseline.
- Require price progress before calling one side in control.
Common mistakes
- Calling every high-volume bar bullish.
- Comparing raw volume across unrelated instruments.
- Ignoring the timeframe and session.
References
Official reading
The lab is simplified; these sources provide the underlying market and execution definitions.
CME Group · What is Volume?
Official overview of how futures volume is counted and interpreted.