I agree...volume for an intraday trade can be one of the most misleading indicators there is. Vinigar has a good point, intraday volume has no meaning at all. Volume in the morning and the same volume at the end-of-day. Same thing everyday. No help from volume intraday. perr
Maybe the volume thing made sense during the bull market, and it was self reinforcing, so when you had a postive volume signal, with a postive market, etc, because people all saw the same signal, they all jumped in and voila! - volume as a key indicator! bit different perhaps - nowadays
I think volume is pretty important in any time frame. In a trend, a retracement on light volume is an indication that the odds slightly favor continuation. Heavy volume on a spike is a pretty good indication that a reversal may be at hand. This is pretty important stuff imo.
Volume is important - but so are a lot of other signals - so the question is whether it is less or more important than the other signals that cause a trade to be taken - certainly for me - it comes way down the list # you dont need volume to see if a market is strong or week, trending or consolidating - its all in the price movements - i still believe volume by necessity is a lagging indicator - so you should have taken or closed your position well before volume offers the confirmation
I am inclined to agree with stevet here.. altho good points have been made also in defence of volume. I certainly think the time frame is important in use of volume and it may well be more useful on a daily chart than a 5 min one.. I find that if I try to use too many indicators my trading gets worse.. keeping it simpler has worked best for me. I guess there are a few worthwhile indicators but its a matter of choice which ones you focus on, and its best to shut out the rest to keep the noise level down.. and at the end of the day it may not matter much which ones you select to help trade.. compared to keeping to a promising strategy long enough and applied consistantly... until the old probabilites swing in your favour.. hopefully! Neil
Stevet. I think you got the Volume Game down very well. Knowing how to read "Price Movement" tells you all you need to know. Practice on getting good at it, and you will not need anyone!!!!!!!!!!!! Trending , Consolidating= price movement. This brings in the money. So you should have taken or closed your position well before volume offers the confirmation. Couldn't have said it better stevet. Try always to be, IN or OUT of your position before the crowd turns on there Teevee.