You talk of DPW then post NILE? Anyway pure volume by itself can only be compared to volume in the past which although helps somewhat, what really is key is up volume (trades done on uptick) vs down volume (trades done on downtick).
You have hit the nail on the head. Volume does NOT correlate well with price. When you rely upon volume or include it in your decision to trade/not, you will impair your results. My advice... forget about volume altogether for trading decisions. Trade from the price chart. Everything you need to know... everything worth knowing is in the chart.
If you are trading manipulated (or seems like manipulated) stocks, you must look at the volume very closely. Use that to decide when to enter and exit the trade.
To understand volume you need to do drills and group like to like. Your chart is insufficient. It shows trading in extended hours which have a different volume profile than RTH. The market is much thinner then and the P/V relationship isn't as clear without including other timeframes. The ten prices cases are a good place to start.