What is relative volume (RVOL)?

Relative volume is a ratio: the stock's volume divided by its average volume for the same stretch of time. Because it is a ratio, it puts every stock on one scale. Five million shares is a quiet day for some large caps and a frenzy for a small company, but an RVOL of 3 means the same thing for both: three times the usual activity.

Hypothetical: a stock has averaged 1,500,000 shares a day over its last 20 sessions. Today it closes with 4,500,000 shares traded, so its daily RVOL is 4,500,000 ÷ 1,500,000 = 3.0. On a sleepy 900,000-share day it would be 0.6. The drawing at the top shows the same idea bar by bar: most volume bars sit near the dashed average line, and the breakout bar is about three times taller, tagged RVOL 3.0.

There is no single official formula. Platforms and scanners differ in how many past sessions they average and in whether they compare whole days or the same time of day, so know which version you are reading. RVOL is also not volume profile: a volume profile shows at which prices volume traded, while RVOL shows how much is trading compared with normal.

Relative volume (RVOL)
Current volume divided by average volume for the same period. 1 is normal, above 1 is busier than usual, below 1 is quieter.
Average volume
The mean volume over a fixed lookback, such as the last 10 or 20 sessions. An unusual day inside the lookback, like a past earnings release, pulls it up.
Time-of-day RVOL
Volume so far today compared with the average volume by the same clock time on past sessions. TradingView's built-in version is called Relative Volume at Time.
Stock in play
A stock trading far more than usual, typically because of news, earnings or a gap, so that many traders are watching the same levels that day.

How to calculate relative volume: daily vs time-of-day RVOL

Daily RVOL works for finished days. During the session it misleads, because volume is not spread evenly: US stocks usually trade most heavily in the first and last hour of the 9:30–16:00 ET session and least around midday. The US stock market hours guide shows the full day.

Comparing 10:00 volume with a whole day is the classic mistake. Hypothetical: by 10:00 ET the stock above has traded 600,000 shares. Against its 1,500,000-share average day, that is 0.4, which looks quiet. But on past sessions it had traded only 240,000 shares on average by 10:00. Time-of-day RVOL = 600,000 ÷ 240,000 = 2.5: the stock is running at two and a half times its normal pace, as the drawing below shows.

Time-of-day RVOL comes in two forms. Cumulative RVOL compares the volume since the open with the average volume since the open at the same time; it is steady and answers "is this stock in play today?". Per-bar RVOL compares one 5-minute bar with the same bar on past days; it jumps around, but it tells you whether a single breakout candle had unusual volume.

  1. Pick a lookback, for example the last 10 or 20 sessions, and keep it fixed.
  2. For each past session, note the volume traded by the same clock time (cumulative) or in the same bar (per bar).
  3. Average those numbers.
  4. Divide today's volume by that average, and check that no unusual day, such as a past earnings release or a holiday-shortened session, distorts it.

Turn your phone sideways to read the drawing. Tap to close.

Cumulative volume through the morning, 9:30 to 11:00 ET: a dashed curve for the average day and a steeper solid curve for today. At 10:00 a bracket shows today running 2.5 times the average, tagged RVOL 2.5 at 10:00.

Why day traders filter for stocks in play

Most days, most stocks drift with the market. Day traders want the few that do not: the ones with a reason to move today. Earnings, company news, an analyst change, a sector headline or a large pre-market gap bring in more buyers and sellers than usual, and RVOL is the quickest way to see it.

More participants usually mean a bigger range to trade, tighter spreads and levels that many people watch, such as the pre-market high, the prior day's high and VWAP. A stock with RVOL near 1 rarely offers that. So many traders build a morning watchlist from gappers with a catalyst and high pre-market RVOL, then drop anything that looks normal by the open. The gap trading strategy and pre-market trading guides cover that routine.

High RVOL tells you the gap matters. It does not tell you which way it resolves. Both panels of the drawing can start with the same heavy volume: on the left the gap holds and keeps rising (gap and go); on the right it fades back to the prior close (gap fill). The price action after the open decides, not the volume number.

Turn your phone sideways to read the drawing. Tap to close.

Two hand-drawn panels with a dashed prior close line: on the left, gap and go (price opens above, holds and keeps rising); on the right, gap fill (price opens above, then fades back down to the prior close, with the gap area shaded).

How relative volume confirms a breakout

A breakout is a bet that price leaves a range and keeps going. That needs new buyers at higher prices, and volume is the most direct evidence that they showed up. The clean version looks like the drawing: price coils inside a tight box, then a candle closes above the box on a clear volume spike.

Hypothetical long: a stock in play coils between $41.20 and $42.00 for 40 minutes. A 5-minute candle closes at $42.15 with a per-bar RVOL of 2.8. Entry $42.15, stop $41.15 just under the box (risk $1.00), target $44.15 for 2R if no level blocks the way. Many traders want at least 1.5 on the breakout candle.

The failure case on the same chart: the candle closes at $42.15 on an RVOL of 0.7, and the next candle closes back inside the box at $41.90. Few new buyers came, and the breakout has become a trap. Exit on the close back inside or let the stop take the −1R loss, whichever your plan said in advance. Confirmation is a closed candle plus volume, never a tick through the line. The breakout trading strategy guide has the rest of the checklist.

Turn your phone sideways to read the drawing. Tap to close.

Price coils inside a tight range box, then a candle closes above the box on a volume spike and a buy signal prints.

RVOL shows activity, not direction

Heavy volume can be heavy selling. A stock that gaps down on weak earnings can show an RVOL of 4 and keep falling all day. The same reading confirms a breakdown below support exactly as it confirms a breakout above resistance.

So read direction from price: is it above or below VWAP, is it holding the level or losing it, does the higher timeframe agree? RVOL then tells you whether the move has participation. Beware of the tallest bar after a long run: it can be the last buyers rushing in just before the move stalls and reverses. Big volume late in a trend can be a warning, not a confirmation.

A hypothetical RVOL plan: the opening range breakout

Here is how the pieces fit, with made-up numbers, for an opening range breakout on a stock in play. The steps are in the list below, and the drawing shows the setup: the opening range box, the close above it, the stop at the range low and the target at 2R.

If the plan works, the target pays 178 × $1.40 = $249.20, or +2R. If it fails, the stop costs 178 × $0.70 = $124.60, or −1R, plus costs. A common failure: the next candle closes back inside the range at $25.70. Heavy volume or not, the breakout has failed, and the trade ends at a small loss or at the full −1R stop. Size every trade from the stop; the position size calculator does the math.

  1. Before the open: the stock has news and a gap, and its pre-market volume is far above its usual pre-market volume.
  2. 9:30–9:45 ET: wait. The first 15 minutes set the opening range, here $25.30 to $25.90. By 9:45, cumulative RVOL reads 4.0.
  3. Trigger: at 9:55 a 5-minute candle closes at $26.00, above the range high, with a per-bar RVOL above 2 and price above VWAP.
  4. Plan: entry $26.00, stop at the range low, $25.30 (risk $0.70), target 2R at $27.40.
  5. Size: a $25,000 account risking 0.5% accepts a $125 loss. $125 ÷ $0.70 = 178.6, rounded down to 178 shares, about $4,628.

Turn your phone sideways to read the drawing. Tap to close.

The first 15 minutes, 9:30 to 9:45 ET, form a shaded opening range box with its high and low dashed; a later 5-minute candle closes above the range high with a buy triangle, the stop sits at the range low and the target at 2R.

Spreads, liquidity and why RVOL alone is not enough

RVOL is relative, so it can flatter a thin stock. Hypothetical: stock A usually trades 40,000 shares a day; today it trades 200,000, an RVOL of 5.0, with a $0.15 spread on an $8 stock. Stock B usually trades 20 million shares; today 30 million, an RVOL of 1.5, with a $0.01 spread. A has the more exciting number, but B is far easier to enter and exit. On a $0.30 stop, A's spread alone is half your risk.

Always check absolute volume and the bid-ask spread next to RVOL. A wide spread is a cost on every entry and exit, and a stop in a thin stock can fill well past its price. Many traders set a floor, such as a minimum average daily volume, before RVOL even counts. Pre-market RVOL needs extra care: it is built on thin volume, so a few large trades can push it very high.

When high RVOL fails: fades, halts and bad readings

Unusual volume attracts traders, and that cuts both ways. These are the common failure cases; plan for them before they happen.

  • The morning fade. A stock gaps up on news with a huge RVOL in the first minutes, then loses VWAP and slides back toward the prior close, like the gap fill panel above. The volume was real; the buying was simply over early.
  • Climax volume. The tallest bar of the day prints at the top of a long run, then price reverses. Late in a move, a volume spike can be the last buyers, not new ones.
  • Trading halts. Under the Limit Up-Limit Down rules, trading pauses for five minutes when price reaches its band and does not come back within 15 seconds, and exchanges can also halt a stock pending news. No order fills during a halt, and the stock can reopen far beyond your stop.
  • Distorted averages. A past earnings day in the lookback inflates the average and hides today's interest; a holiday-shortened session makes today's RVOL look weak.
  • The unfinished bar. The current bar reads low until it closes, because its volume is still coming in. Judge the closed candle.
  • Stale strength. A busy morning keeps cumulative RVOL high in the afternoon even after the stock has gone quiet. Check per-bar volume too.

How to show relative volume on TradingView

TradingView has a built-in indicator called Relative Volume at Time. Open Indicators, search for its name and add it below the chart. It finds the bars at the same offset from the start of past periods, averages their volume and plots current volume divided by that average, so 1 means normal for that time of day and 2 means double.

Its main settings: Anchor Timeframe sets the period (one day for intraday charts), Length sets how many past periods are averaged, and Calculation Mode is Cumulative by default (volume since the period start) or Regular (the volume of the bar itself). TradingView notes that the current value reads lower than it should until the latest bar closes. For a simple daily RVOL, compare the volume bars with a moving average of volume. More free tools are in our best TradingView indicators list.

UpTickFlow, our invite-only TradingView indicator, is not an RVOL scanner and will not find stocks in play for you. On the chart you already trade it works as a second check: it waits for a candle to close at a level, scores the setup from 0 to 100, shows only A+ setups and draws the entry, stop and target before the trade. It stays quiet in chop, in the first minutes after the open and in the midday lull. It does not predict price. See how it works.