Explosive volume thrust
Marks one-minute bars where volume surges well above recent norms; it fires often and ignores price direction.
Each one-minute bar gets a score from 0 to 85 built from five volume tests: a sharp jump in how fast volume is changing, volume against the slow-window average, a rising price over the mid window, a climax bar at the top of the slow window, and a rising volume trend. A bar is marked only when its score reaches 30. The price test adds points only for an up move, so a falling price neither adds nor subtracts.
How to read it
- Markers sit on candles where the score reached 30 or more; higher scores, up to 85, mean more tests agreed.
- Expect many markers: on the SPY sample it fired about 64 times a day, so one marker is weak evidence alone.
- No markers appear until the slow window fills, 30 one-minute bars by default.
- The marker does not show direction, so check whether the candle moved up or down.
What it outputs
- Volume thrust score
- Fires on a bar whose volume thrust score is 30 or more. The value is that score, from 30 up to a maximum of 85.
When it fires
A one-minute bar where volume sits well above its slow-window average and other tests add enough points to reach 30. It flags a volume surge, not a confirmed move.
Settings
- fast_window
- How many recent acceleration readings (the change in the change in volume) the acceleration test averages over. At 1 that test can never score, because the average equals the current reading. Higher values compare against a longer average.
- mid_window
- How far back the mid-term checks look: the price rise, the mid-window average volume and the rising-volume-trend test. Raising it measures over more bars; lowering it reacts to the last few minutes.
- slow_window
- Bars in the baseline volume average and climax check, and the warm-up before the first marker. Raising it steadies the baseline and delays the first marker. Lowering it lets a busy stretch lift the baseline within minutes, so spikes must be bigger to score.
Pitfalls
- The score is not directional. A volume spike of more than 10 times the slow average alone scores 25, and a rising volume trend adds 10, so a spike while price is falling can still mark.
- About 960 bars a day in the sample, more than the 390 regular-session minutes. Thin extended-hours bars likely drag the volume baseline down, so ordinary volume can look like a spike.
- A fast_window of 1 never scores the acceleration test, and a mid_window above slow_window disables the price test. A negative average acceleration lets any positive reading score the full 20.