What is up with Volume?

There has been a lot of discussion on lower volumes in the media and elsewhere. I too am seeing lower volumes recently. Clicking on the link above or looking at the first chart below there are a few key things to notice. Also, Blogger changed its format so it may be best to right click on charts and open in new tabs or screens...pain in the butt, I know!



1) The volume coming out of the '09 bottom was the highest of any of the major up moves at well over 3B shares/day (averaging around 4B). The volume coming out of the 2010 lows was around 3B shares/day. The volume coming out of Oct 2011's lows has steadily declined from around 3B to now well below it. This looks like classic waning volume as prices rise and is bearish longer term. Technical Analysis 101 states that rising prices with lowering volume is a bear sign whereas rising price and volume (such as early 2009) is bullish.

2) Volume on selloffs is significantly higher than volume on advancements. I am not sure what this guy with his CFA is talking about. He must be looking at something different than me. Financial Sense Volume Article

3) The 50 day volume moving average is now clearly in a downtrend since the October lows. That means volume is falling as price has risen. The volume 50 day moving average is now lower than it has been in the past few years at well below 3B shares/day. Zero Hedge put out an article about that as well. Zero Hedge Article

4) On top of volume we have a price momentum indicator (MACD) showing big divergence with October's price highs. Even though price has made a higher high above October, momentum indicators are showing warning signs about the last month's moves.

5) Price is setting up a classic rising wedge pattern. Typically these break down. The pattern has a lot of overlap and moves at a slower rate than the previous trend (which was August's down move). Watch the red dotted trendline for a breakdown. If so, get out.

6) Below I also have a longer term volume chart with a few different indices. You can see on everyone that they are all falling in volume (as prices rise) and currently sit at multi year lows. This chart is on a weekly basis with the volume lines (yellow) the 6 month moving average (26 weeks).


I think the point can easily be made that something is up with volume, especially when compared to recent history. Looking at the second chart, some volume is back to late 90's levels!!!

I saw this interview today which I found interesting for a few reasons. 1) The man has been in the game as long as anyone. 2) I have studied his On Balance Volume Indicator and found it interesting to hear him talk about it. 3) He agrees that volume is not supporting price and we should be falling soon as a result. Joe Granville Interview

Total Volume Indicator continues to hit "dangerously" low levels

Today I was browsing thru my stockcharts.com folder called "Market Top 2007". These were the 80 or so charts I created back in 2007 and 2008 as the market tanked. I came across this one that continues to look like a great indicator.

This is a chart of the moving averages of the total volume of the markets (colored lines). The S&P is also on the chart in black. You can see the last time I updated the chart by the vertical black dashed line. Notice that before this line the market pretty much topped when the colored lines bottomed (where I have the horizontal dashed line). This is where volume is the lightests. You can see a noticeable downtrend in the volume since then. But, you can also see that the colored lines continue to bottom at market tops, at least for a short while.

Excluding the holiday time frame of 2009, the April top is where this indicator was the lowest (at about 1,000). We hit that point again during the August decline and are meandering that way again these past few weeks.

Buyer Beware!!! Low volumes have not been associated with bottoms these past few years and in fact the opposite has occurred in a kind of capitulation event of very high volumes at shorter term bottoms.

I continue to love this chart!

Volume Analysis and 2009 top warning?

Update July 29 2009: Volume is now at a level that previous tops have occurred. This may be a warning that going long right now is a risky endeavor. Click on blog post to see updated chart.

Attached is a volume chart I created to spot tops and bottoms during the 2008 bear. I decided to update it thru today to see what it shows...

As you can see since late March the volume of the total market has been declining as price went up. This is not a good sign for the market. Sustainable rallies occur when prices rise on increased volume, not on lower volume. What this is showing is that more people are losing interest as this market climbs and that any decent sized wave of selling can take the market lower pretty easy.

During the 2008 bear previous tops were confirmed when the 10,12, and 15 day moving average of volume approached the 1200 level on this chart. Unless volume picks up in the next few days as the market rises, we may be in a topping process right now.

On a positive note, in Early March the rally produced volume that was consistent with all the major down legs of 2008 (hitting 1900) showing that the rally was for real.


Watch the 1200 level on this chart. If prices start to fall as this volume curls up below the 1200 level, the rally may be confirmed over.

The title of this blog links to the live chart...