Volume breakout
Scores each bar 0 to 10 for a breakout on volume; most bars sit at a 1.5 baseline, so read the spikes.
VolumeBreakout scores each one-minute bar from 0 to 10 by adding points from four checks, capped at 10. Points come from a close above the highest high of the prior lookback-minus-one bars (1 to 4, by how far above it closes), a volume surge against their average (1 to 3; a breakout on volume at or below 1.2 times average has its points halved), a close within 1% of the bar's high (1 to 1.5, with a 30% cut when it closes more than 2% below), and a rising run across the last five closes (0.5 or 1.5). The checks are not linked: a surge or a near-high close can score with no breakout, so most bars read 1.5, mostly from the near-high check.
How to read it
- The line sits in its own pane below the price, from 0 to 10, and never goes negative.
- Most bars read 1.5, the near-high floor. Treat that as the baseline, not a signal.
- Readings of 4.5 and up are the top 5% of bars in the sample. They need a close above the recent high or a volume surge above 1.5 times average.
- A 0 means nothing scored, or the chart is still filling its first bars of history.
What it outputs
- Breakout score
- Breakout score for this bar, 0 to 10, built from a new high, a volume surge, a close near the high and rising closes. Most bars read 1.5.
Settings
- lookback
- Bars of history for the breakout high and average volume. Higher needs a breakout past an older peak and smooths volume, so high readings get rarer. Lower reacts to small moves and scores high more often. The first bars read 0 while history fills.
Pitfalls
- The 1.5 baseline carries little information. The near-high check passes on most one-minute bars, where a close within about $3.80 of the high is the norm at SPY's sample price. Read the spikes instead.
- The points are hand-weighted, not calibrated. A volume surge scores with no breakout, so a high reading does not prove price broke out.
- Below a lookback of 10 the Python and compiled versions disagree: Python skips the volume check and the compiled path applies it. Stay at 10 or more.