Volume spike detector
Marks bars whose volume runs well above the recent average, whatever the price did.
This indicator looks only at volume and never reads price. It averages the last avg_window bar volumes, the current bar included, and marks a bar when its volume is more than spike_multiplier times that average. Nothing is marked until avg_window bars have arrived, and because the current bar counts in its own average, a bar with the defaults needs about 2.7 times the mean of the 19 bars before it.
How to read it
- Markers sit on the candles, with no separate pane.
- A marker means that bar alone was much heavier than the recent average. It says nothing about direction.
- Every qualifying bar gets its own marker, so a burst of heavy bars shows as a run of markers.
- No markers appear until avg_window bars have arrived.
What it outputs
- Volume spike
- A marker on each bar whose volume exceeds spike_multiplier times the average volume of the last avg_window bars, the bar itself included.
When it fires
On a bar where the marker shows, that bar's volume beat spike_multiplier times the average of the last avg_window bars, including itself. It says only that volume was unusually heavy on that bar. It says nothing about the price move or its direction.
Settings
- avg_window
- How many recent bars make up the volume average. Longer windows give a slower, steadier baseline. Shorter windows react within minutes, so routine bursts can mark. At 1 or 2 bars nothing marks at the default multiplier.
- spike_multiplier
- How many times the average a bar's volume must reach to be marked. Raising it leaves only the largest bursts. Lowering it marks more bars. At 1 a bar marks once it beats the prior average. At zero or below, nearly every bar marks.
Pitfalls
- The catalog describes it as confirming explosive moves, but the code never reads price. A marker on a falling bar counts the same as one on a rising bar, so pair it with a price rule.
- At default settings it marks about 9% of SPY one-minute bars, roughly 64 per day in the sample. That is common, so one marker is weak evidence.
- The slider range runs below zero. At zero or below, nearly every bar marks.