What the volume pane actually shows
Each candle gets one bar measuring what the market traded during that candle on the venue you picked, tinted with the candle's own direction. A line across the bars is the 20-candle average, and that line is the working reference: the ratio between a bar and that line is relative volume, and that ratio — not the raw number, which differs wildly between instruments — is what you read.
rel volume = bar / 20-candle average
0.5x below average
move nobody showed up for
1.0x normal
nothing unusual
2.0x twice average
participation worth respect
4.0x+ climax
often ends a move, not startsFive readings that repeat every day
A level breaks on twice the average volume
- The common reading
- Real participation behind the move
- What you do
- Follow the break and wait for a retest that holds
A level breaks on below-average volume
- The common reading
- A fragile move that often returns into the range
- What you do
- Size smaller, or wait for a second close
A pullback where volume shrinks candle after candle
- The common reading
- Healthy contraction inside a live trend
- What you do
- Look for continuation in the original direction
One bar at four times the average after an extended move
- The common reading
- A climax that ends moves more often than it starts them
- What you do
- Stop chasing and wait for a new level to build
Price makes a higher high while volume falls
- The common reading
- Divergence: momentum is thinning
- What you do
- Tighten entry conditions and protect open profit
In crypto, volume belongs to one venue at a time
There is no single consolidated volume in crypto: every venue publishes only what traded on it. The venue that served the candles is named above the chart, and that is what keeps a comparison honest — compare today's volume with yesterday's on the same venue, never across two of them. If one venue slows down and another serves the same asset, expect the volume scale to change with it while the price shape stays close.
Volume and the clock: where participation actually is
Relative volume follows the clock: the Asian session builds quiet ranges, the London open (about 10:00 Gulf time) and the New York open (about 16:30) lift participation, and the hours after Gulf midnight are the thinnest. A break that arrives in a quiet hour needs more confirmation than one that arrives with a wave of participation.
- 1Switch the volume study on from the studies bar; a pane appears beneath price with one bar per candle and the average line.
- 2Before any decision, compare the break candle to the average line instead of reading the raw number.
- 3Open the 1h timeframe to confirm participation is high at day scale, not just inside one minute.
- 4Combine the two: a drawn level plus an alert on that line, then check volume when the alert arrives and before you act.
- 5At the end of the day, note which breaks worked and at what relative volume — that is the fastest way to set your own threshold.