Volume in the Terminal: What It Really Shows
Volume bars in a terminal look exactly like they do on an exchange but mean something different. Forex has no central venue, and therefore no single volume — there is simply nowhere to count it.
The volume indicator: how a terminal calculates it
Instead of quantity traded, the platform shows tick volume: the number of price changes over the period. The logic is that activity correlates with turnover, and in practice the correlation does exist. But these are two different measurements: one counts events, the other counts money.
How many signals it produces on real data
- Rule tested: volume above twice the average — a spike
- State changes over the sample: 32 — about 21.2 a year
- Share of bars in the signal state: 5.2%
The measurement was made on an EUR/USDT series from a crypto exchange — the only series available to us with genuine volume. It is a proxy, not a forex broker's quotes, and the figures cannot be transferred to forex directly. This measures frequency, not profitability: it shows how many decisions the tool demands of a trader. The data is public and the calculation is reproduced by a script in the repository.
How it differs from similar tools
The practical consequence is that figures from different brokers are not comparable. Tick volume depends on how many liquidity providers a given broker aggregates and how often it refreshes its quote. The same bar will get different volume at two brokers, and neither version is the correct one.
How to apply it
The sensible use is comparison against its own average rather than against absolute values. A spike noticeably above average confirms a move; a price rise on below-average activity more often turns out to be unstable. The measurement showed a spike above twice the average occurs on just 5% of bars — so it genuinely is a rare event, and in that sense the measure is informative.
Common mistakes
The main mistake is carrying exchange methods that require genuine volume across to forex: market profile, cluster analysis, conclusions about accumulation by a large participant. All of them rest on a measurement that does not exist here. The second mistake is comparing volume between instruments or between brokers.
This material is for educational purposes and is not individual investment advice.
Frequently asked questions
Is there genuine volume on forex?
No. The market is over-the-counter with no single venue, so nobody sees aggregate volume and it is published nowhere.
What does the volume indicator show then?
Tick volume — the number of price changes over the period according to one particular broker. It is a measure of activity, not of quantity traded.
How often does a volume spike occur?
In our measurement, exceeding twice the average happened on just 5% of bars, so a spike genuinely is a rare event and informative in that sense.
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