Reading volume bars

The bars underneath the chart

Most chart platforms show a row of bars underneath the price chart, often in green and red to match the candles above. Those are volume bars. Each one shows how much of the asset changed hands during that candle. Tall bar means a busy candle — lots of buying and selling. Short bar means a quiet candle — not many people involved. That's the whole concept. Where it gets useful is in three specific patterns.

Pattern one: confirmation. A breakout candle clearing a level on huge volume is a real breakout. The big bar tells you that a lot of participants agreed with the move. A breakout on tiny volume is suspicious — it means almost nobody bothered to chase, which often leads to a snap-back the other direction. When you see a level break, glance at the volume bar before you trust it.

Pattern two: divergence. Price keeps making higher highs, but the volume bars are getting smaller with each push. That means each new high is being made by fewer and fewer participants — the move is running out of fuel. Same story in reverse on a downtrend. Divergence doesn't tell you the exact moment a trend ends, but it's a strong heads-up that whatever's been working is getting tired.

Pattern three: climax. A single massive volume bar — far taller than anything around it — often marks a turning point. Sellers selling everything they have left. Buyers finally giving up. The crowd's emotional peak. After climax volume, look for a reversal candle on the chart above; it's a high-percentage setup for a swing the other way.

Recap: volume bars show how busy each candle was. Watch for confirmation (volume agrees with the breakout), divergence (price up but volume down — fuel running out), and climax (one giant bar — turning point). Forex volume is approximated; everywhere else it's real.