An indicator that shows the volume of recent up days as a % of the volume of down days, telling you whether trading leaned toward buyers or sellers.
- Weapon tier
- Standard
- Slots used
- Sub-charts 1/2
Concept
One line is drawn in a lower panel, with dotted reference lines at 70, 100 and 150 (lines outside the values on screen are not drawn).
At 100, up days and down days over the last 20 candles had the same volume; above 100, up days had more. Above 150 is often read as overheated, below 70 as depressed.
- Volume Ratio
Charts by TradingView Lightweight Charts™
80 candles with volume, and the Volume Ratio line with its reference lines in a lower panel. From candle 21 to candle 59 (shaded), the price slowly falls, down days carry more volume, and the line stays below 70. At candle 60 (↑) the line moves above 70, and afterwards the price rises and the line passes 100. Keyboard: ←/→ to move, +/− to zoom, 0 to see the whole chart.
The shaded stretch is long — anyone who bought as soon as it went below 70 had to wait a long time. This chart was picked because the price rose afterwards; it is common for the line to pass 70 and then drop back. Drag the chart sideways with a finger or the mouse to move it, and pinch with two fingers to zoom in. With a keyboard, click the chart, then use ←/→ to move and +/− to zoom.
How it is calculated
Split the last 20 candles into those that closed higher than the previous candle, lower, and unchanged, and add up the volume of each group.
The volume of unchanged candles is split in half between the two sides.
Volume Ratio = (volume of up candles + half the unchanged) ÷ (volume of down candles + half the unchanged) × 100.
Parameters
| What it sets | Name in the game | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Candles over which volume is added up | period | 20 | 2 – 100 |
Trading ideas
Leaving the depressed zone: when the line has been below 70 and moves above it, it is commonly read as “selling volume has started to shrink”. The chart on this page shows that scene.
Watching for overheating: if it stays above 150 for a long time, many become cautious, reading it as too much trading piling into up days.
Common traps
- It ignores how far the price moved and only looks at up or down days. A day that rose a little on heavy volume counts entirely on the “up” side.
- In a strong trend it can stay below 70 or above 150 for a long time.
- None of these are sure signals. Read them together with the trend (lesson 2).
In the game
- “Volume Ratio” is a “Standard” weapon and uses 1 of the “Sub-charts” panels (limit 2). Volume in the starting setup already uses 1, so adding it brings it to 2 (0 left).
- Dotted reference lines at 70, 100 and 150 are drawn in the panel. Lines outside the range of values on screen are left out.
Related indicators and lessons
- Volume Profile — An indicator that shows with horizontal bars which price levels saw the most trading, to find “the prices where many people bought and sold”.
- OBV — An indicator that keeps a running total, adding the volume of up days and subtracting the volume of down days, to show whether trading leaned toward buyers or sellers.
- MFI — An indicator that multiplies price moves by volume to show, from 0 to 100, whether more money has recently flowed in on the buying side or the selling side.
- Volume Oscillator — An indicator that shows how many % the short-term average volume is above (or below) the long-term average, telling you whether trading is heating up or cooling down.
- AD Line — An indicator that keeps a running total of each candle’s volume, weighted by where the close ended between the day’s high and low, to show buying pressure (accumulation) and selling pressure (distribution).
- EOM — An indicator of “how easily the price moves”, showing whether the price rises (or falls) easily even on light volume.
- PVT — An indicator that keeps a running total of “% move × volume” for each candle, showing whether volume pushed more on the rising side or the falling side.
- CMF — An indicator that weighs, by volume, whether closes over the last 20 candles mostly ended near the top or the bottom of each day, shown between −1 and +1.
- VWAP — An average-price line that gives more weight to prices from high-volume candles, showing roughly what people paid on average recently.
- Force Index — An indicator that multiplies how far the price moved by volume, showing whether the “force” was behind the rising side or the falling side.
- 4. Volume and volume MA