High, ultra high and news volume: reading the big bars

Volume is the footprint of professional money. Most bars trade normal volume. When volume jumps, someone large is active, and the question becomes: did their effort move price, or did it meet a wall?

RTC sorts every bar into one of four classes, each with its own colour, so you can tell at a glance how big the effort really was.

• Normal: grey.
• High volume: amber, at least 1.8 times the 20-bar average.
• Ultra high volume: purple with a ring, at least 3 times the average, or the biggest bar of the day at 2.2 times or more.
• News volume: red with an N badge, high volume on a bar that contains a high-impact news release.

High volume tells you something important happened, not which way it went. Read the price bar on top. A wide bar closing with the volume is effort and result in agreement (effort up or down). A narrow bar, or a close against the move, is absorption or stopping volume.

Ultra high volume usually appears at the end of a move, not the start. It is where the crowd panics or chases and where professionals take the other side. That is why a selling climax or buying climax almost always prints ultra high volume.

• Look for a climax, stopping volume or absorption reading on the same bar.
• Then wait for a quiet test of that area on much lower volume.
• Chasing the ultra high bar itself is the most common mistake.

NFP, CPI and FOMC create huge volume in seconds. That volume is driven by algorithms and stop orders, so it is less clean than normal professional activity. RTC marks it in red so you do not mix it up with a climax.

1. Let the bar finishDo not trade the first spike.
2. Read the next one or two barsA close back inside the spike often shows the real direction.
3. Go back to structureUse the levels and zones you marked before the news.

The volume profile turns volume sideways: how much traded at each price for the bars on screen. The busiest price is the POC (point of control). VAH and VAL fence the value area, where 70% of the volume traded.

• Inside value: the market is fair and two-sided. Expect rotation between VAH and VAL.
• Above value: buyers are in control while price holds above VAH.
• Below value: sellers are in control while price holds below VAL.
• A quick return inside value after a break is a failed auction, often a strong signal the other way.