What is PVT?
Price Volume Trend keeps a running total of volume, but each bar only adds a share of its volume equal to the percentage change in the close. A bar that rose 2% adds twice as much as a bar of the same volume that rose 1%, and a falling bar subtracts. The line is drawn in its own pane with a dashed zero line.
PVT shows whether volume has been arriving with rising or falling prices, and how strongly. It does not predict price, and its absolute level depends on where the loaded history begins, so only its direction and shape mean anything.
How to use PVT
- Direction of the line. A rising line means volume-weighted percentage gains have outweighed losses over the stretch you are looking at.
- Agreement with price. Price and PVT rising together suggests the move has volume behind it. A new price high without a new PVT high means the latest gains came on less volume or smaller percentage moves.
- Compared with OBV. On Balance Volume adds a bar's whole volume whenever the close is up. PVT adds only a percentage of it, so small moves barely register.
- Slope, not level. Compare the line with itself over a recent stretch. The number itself depends on how much history is loaded.
These are ways to read the line, not entry signals on their own.
Settings
Price Volume Trend has no inputs. It always uses the close and the bar's volume.
Calculation
Each bar's volume is multiplied by the percentage change from the previous close, and the result is added to a running total:
change = (close - previous close) / previous close
PVT = previous PVT + change * volumeThe percentage change is measured against the previous close, which is the base the change itself starts from. The first bar on the chart has no previous close, so it contributes nothing and the running total starts on the second bar.
The total starts from the first loaded bar, so the level of the line depends on how much history is on the chart.
Limitations
- The level is arbitrary. Because the total starts at the first loaded bar, the same market can show very different values depending on how much history is loaded.
- It ignores the range of the bar. Only close to close counts. A bar with a long wick and an unchanged close adds nothing.
- Volume quality varies. Crypto volume differs between exchanges and can include wash trading. PVT on one exchange reflects only that exchange's volume.
- Divergences are not timing signals. PVT can disagree with price for a long stretch while price keeps going.
- The live candle moves. The current bar's close and volume change until it closes, so its contribution changes too.
Frequently asked questions
Price Volume Trend is a running total in which each bar adds its volume multiplied by the percentage change in the close from the previous bar. Rising bars add, falling bars subtract, and bigger percentage moves count for more.
Read its direction and compare it with price. PVT rising with price means volume has been coming in on up moves. Price making a new high while PVT stalls means the latest gains had less volume or smaller moves behind them. Do not read meaning into the number itself.
No. The built-in Price Volume Trend has no inputs. It always uses the close and the bar's volume. You can change the line's colour and style in the indicator's style settings.
On Balance Volume adds a bar's whole volume whenever the close is higher and subtracts it whenever it is lower. PVT adds only the share of volume that matches the percentage change, so a large move counts for more than a small one. That is the only difference between them.
Values on closed bars are not revised. The current bar's contribution moves while that bar is live and settles when it closes. Because the line is a running total from the first loaded bar, loading more history shifts the whole line up or down, but its shape on bars already shown does not change.
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 Price Volume Trend already applied. On any other market, open the indicator picker on the chart and choose Price Volume Trend from the Volume group.