Well its highly dependent on a platform that is liquid. What I'm getting from KBG guy earlier in the thread is that the FX Futures volumes may be sufficient. If you're asking if there's practical use in the prints from the seemingly iliquid HotSpot FXr, then yeah I agree there doesn't seem to be much. I suspect IB has much more liquidity. I am not sure about DukasCopy.
IB forex volumes are meaningless unless someone brings together volumes that include major speculator, bank and government activity. And certainly no one has done this at a retail level. Fx Futures volumes are not going to provide what you would normally get in stocks and other futures because futures are now the tail to a much larger dog. Often the volumes are gamed and the game sometimes involves manipulation towards forex. Better to just ignore "volume" and learn to read price better. The search for certainty in trading is a move away from the holy grail.
Funny Thread! Curious to anyone who would try to incorporate volume into their analysis when it comes to trading spot fx. A question: if volume is important to determine certain price points or price action, how would you incorporate the volume from EBS and FXAll and LavaFX and assorted Currenex brokers and Baxter? Each of these platforms has their own set of liquidity partners (EBS alone estimates that they do in excess of 200B a day) How does their volume affect the underlying price movement as a whole? Volume analysis is irrelevant in this market because there are so many sources of info and this is not co-mingled to create an accurate picture. IB volume? That only reflects trades transacted thru IB. The same is true on FXr, Currenex, etc. This is not like a centralized exchange where all the info is there for your analysis. Good Luck trying to use volume as an indicator. Not being flippant, but unless you can see the wholemarket... As to read prices better: spot fx is probably the most technically driven product out there. Yes, news hurts/helps, but technical factors are mostly the determining factor in price direction. Learn to read your charts.