What is Net Volume?
Net Volume takes each bar's volume and gives it a sign. If the bar closed higher than the previous bar, its volume is drawn as a positive column; if it closed lower, as a negative column; if the close was unchanged, the column is zero. Positive columns are green and negative ones red, around a dashed zero line in a separate pane.
It is the per-bar building block of On Balance Volume without the running total, so it shows the flow on each bar rather than a cumulative position. It does not weigh how far price moved, only which way, and it does not predict anything.
How to use Net Volume
- Size and colour of the columns. A tall green column is a large-volume bar that closed up. A tall red column is a large-volume bar that closed down.
- Clusters. A run of mostly green or mostly red columns shows which direction the heavier volume has been closing in over that stretch.
- Against price. A rally made of small green columns between larger red ones is being pushed on lighter volume than the pullbacks.
- Compare with its running total. On Balance Volume is the running sum of these columns. Net Volume shows each bar's piece of it.
These are ways to read the columns, not entry signals on their own.
Settings
Net Volume has no inputs. It always uses the close and the bar's volume.
Calculation
Each bar compares its close with the previous close and signs the bar's volume accordingly:
if close > previous close: net volume = volume
if close < previous close: net volume = -volume
otherwise: net volume = 0An unchanged close gives exactly 0. It does not carry over the sign of the previous bar. The very first bar on the chart has no previous close to compare with, so it is also 0, which is why the indicator draws from the first loaded bar with no warm-up.
Columns at or above zero are drawn green and columns below zero red, with a dashed line at zero.
Limitations
- Direction only. A bar that closed one tick higher counts its whole volume as positive, the same as a bar that rallied strongly.
- It is noisy. Without any smoothing or accumulation, the columns flip sign often and are hard to read over long stretches.
- Volume quality varies. Crypto volume differs between exchanges and can include wash trading. The columns only reflect the volume the selected exchange reports.
- The live candle moves. The current column can change sign and size until the bar closes.
- It is not a strategy. On its own it carries no risk management, sizing or exit.
Frequently asked questions
Net Volume is each bar's volume with a sign attached. Bars that closed above the previous close count as positive, bars that closed below it as negative, and unchanged closes as zero. It is drawn as green and red columns around a zero line.
Look at which colour dominates and how large the columns are. Strings of large green columns mean heavy volume has been arriving on up closes; large red columns mean heavy volume on down closes. Compare that with price, for example a rally on thin green columns between heavier red ones.
No. The built-in Net Volume has no inputs. It always compares the close with the previous close and uses the bar's volume. You can change the colours in the indicator's style settings.
They use the same per-bar term. On Balance Volume adds each bar's signed volume to a running total, so it shows a cumulative position that trends. Net Volume shows each bar's term on its own, so it shows the flow bar by bar and always returns to zero.
No. Each column depends only on that bar and the previous close, so closed bars are never revised. The current bar's column changes while the bar is live and settles when it closes.
Use the Add to chart button at the top of this page. It opens BTC/USDT on Binance in the Altrady Charts terminal with the built-in Net Volume already applied. On any other market, open the indicator picker on the chart and choose Net Volume from the Volume group.