Quote from UgoCerletti:
I have a bit of time here before I get back to work
A couple of things that might help people interested in working with volume
First to the gentleman to started the thread, I say you are generous in providing that kind of direction to retail traders.
Secondly althought cumulative volume is important, what is more important is the type of volume and the timing of its appearance. Specifically volume that exists as resting orders above and below specific price points can be seen in advance. That kind of volume known in my business as "responsive volume" (limit orders) is only a part of the picture. For a directional move to sustain itself (as we saw in the S&P yesterday) there also must be "initiative" volume in the form of marketable orders that appear as institutions and programs trigger their reserve accounts.
The display that you are looking at is only one way to visualize volume and process it. There are others and one could simply program a spreadsheet (given the programming talent) and do much more with it. What I have seen is a nice first (and second) step, and one can learn a lot from it. Do however take notice that in order to "see" the market fully, it is necessary to add some kind of statistical (historic) record in order to see context properly. For instance, using a "volume at price" format (similar to Market Profile) one could make a record of historical average volume for each bracket (200 days would be adequate) then as you see volume come into the market, you could compare it the historic average and determine whether initiative (new marketable orders) activity is occuring.
Today's rally happened on significantly higher than average volume after 1:00pm EST. That volume was both short covering and commercial interests piling into the market with urgency. The short covering could be anticipated. The initiative buying by institutions and funds cannot, and probably can't be seen using these tools. That is why periodically using this format you may get "surprised"....it is one of the problem of working with what you call divergence. I hope my English is not too clumsy to understand.
I wish everyone the best of luck
Cheers