Volume - food for thought?

Ultramarine

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My reading of grey1’s comment on the VWAP thread about volume -

“ 4) watch the price action with no VOLUME, I don’t hate volume but I also know how volume gets fragmented and distributed by third party algorithms in modern trading to give a false impression of the true nature of the MOVE.. I really prefer not to get involved in this argument.”

– coincided with finding a recently posted thread over on the NeoTicker User’s Forum -Volume Problem - eSignal Data Feed – [http://forums.neoticker.com/showthread.php?t=7991[/URL] which flags up what was for me an unexpected hitch with volume analysis and maybe means that my half-hearted attempts to include this in my trading are less useful than I imagined.

I don’t know how many members of this forum use eSignal and maybe it doesn’t apply to other feeds – but somehow I wouldn’t be too surprised if it did. I’d be interested to here any views. Maybe I'm the only one who didn't know about it!
Hope the link works.

Al
 
“ 4) watch the price action with no VOLUME, I don’t hate volume but I also know how volume gets fragmented and distributed by third party algorithms in modern trading to give a false impression of the true nature of the MOVE.. I really prefer not to get involved in this argument.”
Hi Al,
Welcome to T2W. I'm afraid the link doesn't appear to be working, but I'd be very surprised indeed if there's a problem with eSignal volume data that the company fail to sort out pretty swiftly. They're too big a player with a large reputation to protect and volume is, arguably, the most basic and most important of indicators used by millions of traders.

Like you, I noted Iraj's comment with interest. But, like anything in this game, one man's meat is another man's poison. Try floating the idea that volume is more likely to mislead than it is to inform one's trading over on VSA Trader's S&P analysis thread and see what the response you get! The bottom line is that it's in the bottom line, by which I mean if you use volume and turn a profit - then volume works for you. If you don't use volume and turn a profit - then you don't need volume. Although there are a million and one views about the merits or otherwise of volume - or any other 'indicator' for that matter - I suspect this last point is one on which traders of all persuasions can agree.
Tim.
 
My reading of grey1’s comment on the VWAP thread about volume -

“ 4) watch the price action with no VOLUME, I don’t hate volume but I also know how volume gets fragmented and distributed by third party algorithms in modern trading to give a false impression of the true nature of the MOVE.. I really prefer not to get involved in this argument.”

– coincided with finding a recently posted thread over on the NeoTicker User’s Forum -Volume Problem - eSignal Data Feed – [http://forums.neoticker.com/showthread.php?t=7991[/URL] which flags up what was for me an unexpected hitch with volume analysis and maybe means that my half-hearted attempts to include this in my trading are less useful than I imagined.

I don’t know how many members of this forum use eSignal and maybe it doesn’t apply to other feeds – but somehow I wouldn’t be too surprised if it did. I’d be interested to here any views. Maybe I'm the only one who didn't know about it!
Hope the link works.

Al


Al
My view is that most published volume data is a distraction of virtually no value. I only use it with Ftse futures at turning points and even this is not much use, and with vwap where it is accumulated throughout the day and therefore more representative of reality.

Volume is one of those items of data which imo people think must be useful simply because it's available. Since the days of Livermore and before players have disguised their intentions and manipulating volume is one way to do it.
There are perfectly legal facilities available to delay or hide or disguise volume and these are typically used by the big players.
Think about it - if you have a large position to fill you don't want others to know what you are doing. Institutions, Banks etc do not want their competitors knowing their intentions.
So the key information which players would love to know is disguised in some way. The rest of the volume that is visible and accurately reported is mostly small-fry stuff.
And if you are a big player then you are one of those who moves the market and causes reversals which the small players try to follow.

A friend of mine has recently noticed that on the Ftse Futures he can see large volumes of contracts being bought or sold in small lots (as low as 1) one after the other like a machine gun firing.
(I take his word for this because it's not visible from IB's feed but it is from Mytrack's, which I no longer use.)

Of course if you can make volume work for you then good for you, but frankly I don't believe that volume enthusiasts enjoy much success.

Glenn
 
Al
My view is that most published volume data is a distraction of virtually no value. I only use it with Ftse futures at turning points and even this is not much use, and with vwap where it is accumulated throughout the day and therefore more representative of reality.

Volume is one of those items of data which imo people think must be useful simply because it's available. Since the days of Livermore and before players have disguised their intentions and manipulating volume is one way to do it.
There are perfectly legal facilities available to delay or hide or disguise volume and these are typically used by the big players.
Think about it - if you have a large position to fill you don't want others to know what you are doing. Institutions, Banks etc do not want their competitors knowing their intentions.
So the key information which players would love to know is disguised in some way. The rest of the volume that is visible and accurately reported is mostly small-fry stuff.
And if you are a big player then you are one of those who moves the market and causes reversals which the small players try to follow.

A friend of mine has recently noticed that on the Ftse Futures he can see large volumes of contracts being bought or sold in small lots (as low as 1) one after the other like a machine gun firing.
(I take his word for this because it's not visible from IB's feed but it is from Mytrack's, which I no longer use.)

Of course if you can make volume work for you then good for you, but frankly I don't believe that volume enthusiasts enjoy much success.

Glenn
100% agree.


guys,

If you asked me to prove if there was a GOD then I would be having a difficult task to do so and I am sure we eventually agree to disagree but with stuff like relationship between P * V I can take you to a trading desk in my Previous employment and dump 100 000 share with in 2 hours with no abnormality shown in the volume chart ..


Fact 1)NOW A DAYS ,, Asset managers play their cards very close to their chest and route their orders through algorithmic engines and DMA providers than block order desk . They fragment and distribute volume and then add them up to deliver a Large block @ VWAP as Glen mentioned on behalf of a institution with large traffic of daily business,,,

Fact2) Smart volume never discloses its intention as other program traders trade against it.

Fact3) small agency brokers use in house third party algorithms to execute trades on behalf of investment banks . They do that every day under your own nose but which one of P*V ( as they call them selves ) see them coming or going ,.. BLOODY NONE

Fact4) if a director wants to buy lets say 100 000 share in his own company ,, how does he do that ? I let you to figure this one out .. in fact I give you an exercise ,,Go to SEC site and find out what director last bought shares in his own company and WHEN and tell me on the chart on that particular day did any thing abnormal happened or not that a PV analyst could see it coming ? Most director buying spikes happen when few days after the news leak or is published and naive trader trade the stock to the up side.

The modern Trading techniques has made the market very very efficient and life very difficult for an average trader to make $$ with a degree of certainty above 50/50 and I hope traders OPEN THEIR EYES and WAKE UP ..

Well done my man Glenn ,, You da man


HINT :-- Most TECHNICIANS No matter if they are P*V so called exPertS or Chart expertS they have one thing in common,, They are all POLITICIANS ,, THIS IS WHAT THEY TELL YOU ,, MONDAY MARKET MIGHT GO UP BUT ON DAILY YOU SEE WEAKNESS WHICH MIGHT GO DOWN .. IF IT GOES UP UP X POINTS THEN IT MIGHT GO UP HIGHER THERE AGAIN IF IT DOES NOT IT SHOWS WEAKNESS ...... WHICH BASICALLY IT MEANS I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THE HELL MARKET IS GOING BUT PAY ME TO TEACH YOU """ TALKING THE TALK .""

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Grey1
 
Last edited:
Regrets about the link

Tim,
Sorry about my failure to get the link working properly - my techie skills are obviously more limited than I thought!
If you just copy and paste the text below into your broswer, does it not work? If not then I'll have to try another way but it does work for me (unlike volume analysis!).

http://forums.neoticker.com/showthread.php?t=7991

Glenn, Iraj - thanks for your responses - maybe the problem I'm referring to can be ignored if we go along with your philosophy.:D

Tim, again - the "problem" is not a one-off in the way in which I think you have interpreted it but rather that eSignal routinely treats volume data such that one has to be very cautious in comparing what you see in real time with what you get from an historical download. I'll include the quote from Tickquest Support which is contained in the (invisible) thread:

" This is because eSignal correct volume bar during trading day, so when new historical data is requested from eSignal volume values are changed.
__________________
TickQuest Support "

No wish to flog a dead horse but if there is any interest and the link still doesn't work please let me know

Al
 
Hi Iraj & Glenn,
Thanks for your replies to Ultramarine which are of particular interest to me as I attempt to make some use of volume, although I'm not obsessive about it. I would like to canvass the views of traders who rely on it heavily for market analysis and subsequent trading decisions, who can be found on this thread:
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/showthread.php?t=27069
At the moment I'm switching between the two threads which is a little awkward! I'm reluctant to paraphrase your comments and haven't copied your posts to that thread as this is Iraj's private forum. However, I think it would be useful for your posts to be on a public forum for open discussion. Therefore, would you consider:
A). Posting your comments on the above thread yourselves, or . . .
B). Allowing me to copy and paste your comments to it, either attributing yourselves as authors - or not - entirely as you see fit?
Thanks,
Tim.

Al, - the link works fine now - thanks!
 
Hi Iraj & Glenn,
Thanks for your replies to Ultramarine which are of particular interest to me as I attempt to make some use of volume, although I'm not obsessive about it. I would like to canvass the views of traders who rely on it heavily for market analysis and subsequent trading decisions, who can be found on this thread:
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/showthread.php?t=27069
At the moment I'm switching between the two threads which is a little awkward! I'm reluctant to paraphrase your comments and haven't copied your posts to that thread as this is Iraj's private forum. However, I think it would be useful for your posts to be on a public forum for open discussion. Therefore, would you consider:
A). Posting your comments on the above thread yourselves, or . . .
B). Allowing me to copy and paste your comments to it, either attributing yourselves as authors - or not - entirely as you see fit?
Thanks,
Tim.

Al, - the link works fine now - thanks!
TIM . I rather you not to cut & paste as i donot really like to be involved in heated argument with people whom i donot know nothing about,,If there was a trader who posted his trades for month and month like the way i do and told me he made money using VOLUME then that would be interesting and i would love to listen to what he has to say but for jesus sake you know what is going to be the out come of the debate ,,It is going to be the famous line , I HAVE BEEN DOING THIS JOB FOR 25 YEARS AND MADE MILLIONS OUT OF THE VOLUME ANALYSIS .

The problem with this business is that every one with few $ , PC and an internet line feels qualified and i totally understand it and i respect that but donot take any notice of their analysis unless I see their TAX RETURN .






grey1
 
TIM . I rather you not to cut & paste as i donot really like to be involved in heated argument with people whom i donot know nothing about,,If there was a trader who posted his trades for month and month like the way i do and told me he made money using VOLUME then that would be interesting and i would love to listen to what he has to say but for jesus sake you know what is going to be the out come of the debate ,,It is going to be the famous line , I HAVE BEEN DOING THIS JOB FOR 25 YEARS AND MADE MILLIONS OUT OF THE VOLUME ANALYSIS .

The problem with this business is that every one with few $ , PC and an internet line feels qualified and i totally understand it and i respect that but donot take any notice of their analysis unless I see their TAX RETURN .

grey1
Tim
I agree with Iraj.
I have posted on volume in the past and some people got hot under the collar. I'd rather keep it civilised within the TT thread.
You have made the point sufficiently on the other thread for anyone to respond if they wish.
Glenn
 
Hi Glenn & Iraj,
I've always assumed that the point at which buyer and seller trade with one another is recorded instantly on T&S and added to the cumulative volume for that minute, hour and day etc. Having trawled through mountains of posts about volume over the years, I thought I'd heard all of the arguments for and against its use. So, as you can imagine, your comments came as something of a surprise to me! As such, I think it would have been interesting to get a volume 'expert' to respond to them. However, I take your points on board and respect your wishes, so I won't pursue the matter further.
Tim.
 
Hi Glenn & Iraj,
I've always assumed that the point at which buyer and seller trade with one another is recorded instantly on T&S and added to the cumulative volume for that minute, hour and day etc. Having trawled through mountains of posts about volume over the years, I thought I'd heard all of the arguments for and against its use. So, as you can imagine, your comments came as something of a surprise to me! As such, I think it would have been interesting to get a volume 'expert' to respond to them. However, I take your points on board and respect your wishes, so I won't pursue the matter further.
Tim.

Hi Tim
Just to add to the picture, here are the notes on Iceberg orders and Hidden orders from the IB website:-
http://individuals.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/orders/iceberg.php
http://individuals.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/orders/hidden.php

Glenn
 
VWAP implications?

Hi All,
My original intent in starting this thread was simply to give any eSignal users here a heads up w.r.t. possible problems with volume analysis which, if confirmed, seemed also to lend some more weight to Grey1's opinion on the topic. Subsequently, his, and Glenn's, comments on the broader aspects of volume analysis have changed the focus.

Leaving aside the question of whether or not we should or should not use volume directly in our trading approach, many nevertheless use it indirectly through the inclusion of VWAP methodologies. Given the shaky foundation that seems underpin (?) volume data, how does this impact on the computation of VWAP? My calculation of VWAP is based on the volume data supplied by my feed. If this is false - whatever that means - then is my VWAP also false? Grey1 has often referred to the use of VWAP by the major players. How is anyone arriving at a true value without knowing what has been included and what is missing?

Returning to the poor unfortunate eSignal user - if the alleged specific data quirks are real (based on the link I posted, they appear to be so but I have not had the opportunity so far to do any checking myself) then even if the previously mentioned underlying problems can be ignored it would seem to be advisable to reload a chart periodically to check the "true" status of any VWAP trade. To quote one of the posters on the Neoticker Forum - "I routinely see differences in volume of 100% to 500% by the end of the trading session!".

Lucky TradeStation users? :D

Al
 
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