Content:
- tick volumes on Forex MetaTrader (MT4, MT5);
- Better Volume indicator description;
- how to set up better volume;
- examples of using;
- where to download the official version without viruses.
Tick volumes on Forex MetaTrader (MT4, MT5)
Tick volume – the quantity of changes in the price of the instrument by one base point over a period of time. It does not reflect the numerical value of real cash in transactions, but correlates with it. MT4 and MT5 terminals use tick volumes, because of the lack of opportunity to gather other.
Tick volume is also called vertical, because it is displayed as a bar chart. Simply put, tick volume reflects the interest of sellers and buyers in the instrument. This is more than enough to gauge market sentiment.
Important Notice, tick volume displays the quantity of price changes for a certain period, received from the counterparty of liquidity, therefore it will be slightly different for different brokers.
If the tick bar is above average – it means, that new players appeared on the market, who are actively involved in the sale or purchase of assets. The interest of new players in the market indicates a new strong trend, that’s worth taking a closer look at. Many traders neglect volume indicators. In fact, volume sets the tone, so without it, no technical analysis will be justified. To find out the tick volume, the MT4 and MT5 terminals have a built-in Volumes base indicator.
Better Volume indicator description
The tick volume indicator Better Volume colors the values of the Volumes indicator depending on the conditions being met. It does not give signals to open a position, it is used as confirmation of a strategy signal.
Better Volume is a color histogram in an additional window. The indicator calculation takes into account high, low, сlose candlestick price. Displays volume values by column heights and color coded. Consider the input and color values of the indicator.
Input parameters:
Display_Bars – number of displayed candles in the indicator window. It is quite resource intensive therefore, you can set a specific value. For those who want to paint the whole story, choose – 0. MAPeriod – period for calculating the moving average for volume. LookBack – the period for which the correct and relative volume is calculated.
Correct volume – this value, obtained by multiplying the length of the candle by the value of the tick volume.
Relative volume – this value, obtained by dividing the value of the tick volume by the length of the candle.
Description of colors:
Red – maximum correct volume and the candle closed above half – this is a signal for growth.
DeepSkyBlue – the usual tick volume, which is unremarkable.
Yellow – minimum volume per period measured period LookBack. As a rule, it appears during periods of calm (flat) on large time frames or in inactive periods of a trading session (Asian).
Lime – maximum relative volume for the period LookBack. This color recommends to be careful, as they say, “the spring shrinks” and it is unclear where the price will shoot.
White – maximum correct volume and candlestick closed below half – it’s a signal to sell.
Magenta – maximum correct and relative volume – it’s the strongest signal. It doesn’t show the direction, but indicates the formation of a new strong movement at the moment.
Maroon – this is the line of the moving average volume over the period MAPeriod.
how to set up better volume
To make the indicator informative, it is recommended to disable unnecessary colors. To do this, go to the color settings and select «None».
That way, there’ll only be the right bars. For those who don’t use a black background, it’s easy to replace red with blue and white with orange. Some colors to disable. Get the following design.
An important part of the setting is the parameter LookBack. It primarily affects the coloring Better Volume. Default setting 20, looks good. However, it’s worth understanding, that during the Asian session, the volumes are less than in the European. Therefore, when trading on an hourly timeframe and less, the parameter should be increased. For a daily timeframe, 20 is great, but it’s worth decreasing it to 14 or 10. It all depends on your strategy. Therefore, before using the indicator I recommend to play with the settings.
Examples of using the Better volume indicator
Example 1. White color of the indicator means downward movement – appears on a bearish candlestick.
On the picture EUR/USD the daytime timeframe shows, that after the fall began. Then there was a slight correction, a magenta candle was formed. At this point, we need to assess the market movement. Magenta candle indicates a new movement. In this case, it continued further down.
Example 2. An important signal is the appearance of a lime bar, which indicates the presence of a large volume on the market, but in a narrow price range.
This means that the market is in limbo. At such a moment, it’s better not to enter the market, but to wait for the next signal. The figure shows the formation of a large lime bar (0). Talks about the accumulation of volume, while the candle itself is a reversal in the form of a hammer. This is followed by a red bar (1), which symbolizes bullish growth. I want to note that the candle on the chart is large, therefore, strategies with a short stop loss would knock out corrections. Next, strong growth began.
Example 3. Very rarely magenta bars appear on the histogram.
They signal the adoption of a new direction of movement by market participants. In picture 1, the movement continued, but in picture 3 this reversal occurred. You can use a magenta bar in any strategy. If the strategy gives a signal, the magenta bar confirms the start of a strong movement.
Where to download the official version without viruses
Website of MT4 and MT5 terminal developers https://www.mql5.com. There are many robots, indicators, scripts, libraries, articles and an excellent forum. On the site or in the MT4 or MT5 terminal itself you can download the indicators as paid and free of charge.
At the same time, paid indicators are downloaded in the demo version. They are not attached to the chart, but open in the strategy tester. In the strategy tester, there are all closed candles. Therefore, it is easy to use for analysis for free, by making a few extra clicks. Below links for different versions of MetaTrader. The first link is for MT4 and the second link is for MT5. You can download and use the demo version of the indicator using them.
The main advantage of downloading from MQL5 is that you don’t get a trojan or other type of virus, that steals passwords or does something else. Of course, if you can’t afford to buy an indicator, you should look for it on the Internet. But as your capital grows, I recommend using licensed software in everything, so you get protection against unnecessary risks.
