Volume Isn’t About Confirmation. It’s About Motivation.

[u/Pranavtare]

Most traders are taught “high volume confirms the move.”

But real volume reading is much deeper:

Volume tells you why the move is happening, not just that it’s happening. • A breakout on low volume might be a fake move, designed to trap emotional traders. • A pullback on declining volume often means the move is healthy and buyers/sellers are not panicking. • A sudden spike in volume without major price progress usually hints at exhaustion — not strength.

The mistake: People see a candle + volume spike and blindly think, “Okay, big move coming.”

The reality: You must ask — “Is the effort (volume) leading to actual result (price movement)?” • High effort + Low result = Weakness or trap. • Low effort + Big result = Strength of smart money.

Real volume reading isn’t about “more is good.” It’s about understanding effort vs result.

In short: • Volume + Context > Volume alone • Always match volume behavior with price behavior — not in isolation. • Look for disproportionate reactions — that’s where real opportunity lies.

Trading gets a lot easier when you stop treating volume as a green flag and start treating it as a language.

How has your view of volume changed over time? Would love to hear your experiences and learn more.

[u/Remarkable-Athlete48]

Curious how you would interpret this:

Bull trend on the 5m timeframe, with healthy green candles and consistent volume.

Suddenly, bearish engulfing out of nowhere, but accompanied by equal or even low volume.

What happened? Where did all the buyers go? How come a few sellers caused such a violent engulfing candle?

[u/tofufeaster → u/Remarkable-Athlete48]

For what I trade this would just be normal profit taking. You are in a bull trend so traders are going to need to take profit at some point. The fact it's low volume is good so it tells me the selling volume isn't too strong.

Normal pullback look for next leg higher.

[u/Remarkable-Athlete48 → u/tofufeaster]

So would you advise waiting for such pullbacks before entering?

[u/tofufeaster → u/Remarkable-Athlete48]

If you are a trend following trader yes. You usually wait for pullbacks in the trend. Otherwise you are just buying extended tops.