Short-time reader (lurker), first time poster.
I am not specifically concerned with the volume at the highs and lows, more concerned with the volume activity on the bar as a whole (talking about time-based bars here, eg. 5-minute bar, 15-minute bar, daily bar etcâ¦) and would also like to see the volume distribution along the bar itself (if I could). Having said this, if the high (or low) of the bar is the sessionâs high (or low) so far, I am more likely to pay attention to the volume trading at or very close to the high (or low). There are some other instances, too, where I would pay more attention to the volume at the high or low â for instance if it was a case of the price retracing up to a former support that I now expected to be resistance.
Now, given that I set the bar interval I am looking at (like you said I arbitrarily set the bar, not the market) I am aware that each bar is only a representation of the market, not the market itself. What this means is that if I look at one price in the bar, for example the high, the low, or the âcloseâ then I am restricting the sample even further, lets say I run an indicator that used the âcloseâ of a 15-minute bar, then I am sampling the market every 15 minutes for this indicator â this is a very small sample and while it may not invalidate the usefulness of the indicator, it is something to be very aware of. Similarly, paying close attention to the volume at the high or low of my arbitrarily selected time bar is not necessarily of much value, better to pay attention to the areas of especially high or low volume wherever they happen to occur.
Enough of a ramble for a first postâ¦.
ES