# Can someone please explain 'Volume' in a trade?



## LostInTransit (2 September 2009)

Hi

When I use Yahoo Finance graph, I can see like many other graphs available out there, there is a 'volume' chart at the bottom of the graph. 

For example for stock XYZ, at a given graph point it shows (say) $3.94 and the corresponding volume shows (say)  45,000.

What I want to know if the volume is total of sellers AND buyers  OR sellers only OR Buyers only?

How would I know or find volume of buyers or sellers on the these free graph pages. Same applies to Comsecc.

Thanks


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## Beej (2 September 2009)

On those yahoo finance etc graphs the volume tells you the number of shares that were traded at that price. Obviously the number of shares sold = the number of shares bought. As for the actual buyers and sellers you have no way of knowing! There could have been 1 buyer and 100 sellers, or the other way around!

Cheers,

Beej


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## jono1887 (2 September 2009)

LostInTransit said:


> Hi
> 
> When I use Yahoo Finance graph, I can see like many other graphs available out there, there is a 'volume' chart at the bottom of the graph.
> 
> ...



 on the comsec watchlist there is a column for volume which shows you the number of shares that were transacted in a single day.


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## LostInTransit (2 September 2009)

Ok thanks.

My interest is really knowing if there are more buyers or sellers at any given Volume. Another words are they more buyer then sellers or visa vesa. Is there anyway knowing this. 

I have seen some other sites they have an down pointing arrow and up pointing arrow next to the stock with percentage written next to them. I was hoping something like that.


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## Knobby22 (2 September 2009)

LostInTransit said:


> Ok thanks.
> 
> My interest is really knowing if there are more buyers or sellers at any given Volume. Another words are they more buyer then sellers or visa vesa. Is there anyway knowing this.
> 
> I have seen some other sites they have an down pointing arrow and up pointing arrow next to the stock with percentage written next to them. I was hoping something like that.




You will find that there is the same number of buyers and sellers. 

What volume tells you, combined with price direction, is how keen the buyers and sellers are.


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## LostInTransit (2 September 2009)

Ok thanks . 

So how do you know how keen the buyers are compared to how keen sellers are. I am sorry for not getting this quite ..yet   but I will soon I am sure.

When I look at the graph, I see the information but not sure how to interpret when it comes to 'Volume'.  One would like to know if there are more of the buyers or more of the sellers.


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## Knobby22 (2 September 2009)

Look at this link.

http://www.swing-trade-stocks.com/stock-chart-volume.html


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## Trembling Hand (2 September 2009)

LostInTransit said:


> One would like to know if there are more of the buyers or more of the sellers.




Mate!! Numbers of shares sold ALWAYS = Number of share bought.


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## LostInTransit (2 September 2009)

Trembling Hand said:


> Mate!! Numbers of shares sold ALWAYS = Number of share bought.




So are you saying if the volume is =100 then 
there are 50 buyers and 50 sellers 

That can't be right.  Is that correct?


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## White_Knight (2 September 2009)

LostInTransit said:


> Ok thanks.
> My interest is really knowing if there are more buyers or sellers at any given Volume. Another words are they more buyer then sellers or visa vesa. Is there anyway knowing this.




That's a lot of logical fail right there.

A buy or sell transaction is a transfer of shares from one entity to another, for a price. You cant sell your shares to noone, nor can you buy them off noone.

Thus the buy and sell side are equal. The variable is price.

Unless your talking about what individual entities buying or selling at any price level, and due to the nature of the market that's almost impossible to work out for the most part (and also irrelevant) until after the fact substantial holding notices come out.

Google "On Balance Volume", thats probably the indicator you're after.


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## Trembling Hand (2 September 2009)

LostInTransit said:


> So are you saying if the volume is =100 then
> there are 50 buyers and 50 sellers
> 
> That can't be right.  Is that correct?




No if volume = 100 there is 

100 shares sold *AND *100 shares bought.

Think about it if you are an apple farmer going to market to sell your apples.

If you sold 100 apples to customers how many apples where bought?

It has to be the same. got it?


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## Timmy (2 September 2009)

LostInTransit said:


> So are you saying if the volume is =100 then
> there are 50 buyers and 50 sellers
> 
> That can't be right.  Is that correct?




No, he is not saying that.  Lost - read the link provided by knobby, it will help you out.


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## Real1ty (2 September 2009)

I think he is talking about market depth.

Some platforms provide a market depth which will show you how many individual buyers (Bid) or sellers (Ask) there are for a particular price and the volume of the bid/ask.

How ever this is not a very reliable form of analysis in most cases.


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## LostInTransit (2 September 2009)

Trembling Hand said:


> No if volume = 100 there is
> 
> 100 shares sold *AND *100 shares bought.
> 
> ...



 Got it . Thanks for explaining to a beginner


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## LostInTransit (2 September 2009)

Real1ty said:


> I think he is talking about market depth.
> 
> Some platforms provide a market depth which will show you how many individual buyers (Bid) or sellers (Ask)there are for a particular price and the volume of the bid/ask.
> 
> How ever this is not a very reliable form of analysis in most cases.




That's it!, that's what it is called. And you are saying 'not a very reliable form of analysis in most cases' . Ok but how would I read this information by looking at those free charts like in Yahoo or Comsec?


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## Timmy (2 September 2009)

Lost, also have a look at this thread:  Buy and sell volume?

It might help too.


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## LostInTransit (2 September 2009)

Timmy said:


> Lost, also have a look at this thread:  Buy and sell volume?
> 
> It might help too.




Thanks . Great link to my interest. Also thank you Knobby22 for your link as I will now study.

Thank you for your quick support. I do appreciate your constructive answers as most of you (thankfully) do realise  that this is the beginners lounge and answer are explained or directed as such.


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## Timmy (2 September 2009)

one more for you Lost: Buying vs Selling Volumes


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## Timmy (2 September 2009)

And here is the specific post I was looking for to answer your question:



motorway said:


> http://stocknessmonster.com/
> 
> Select trades ( not quote )
> 
> ...


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## LostInTransit (2 September 2009)

Timmy said:


> And here is the specific post I was looking for to answer your question:





Yes yes and yes! Thank you Timmy for spending time to help me understand. 

I may have asked my question incorrectly at the beginning but believe me but I some times find it soo intimidating to ask a question as sometimes you are made to look like a fool by some of the answers you get. 

This was very encouraging experience for me as some of you experts might take it as granted.

Thank you all. I will come up now with more questions as I learn more. Thank again.


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## Tradesurfer (10 September 2009)

As explained if someone buys 100 shares- then someone sells 100 shares. If there is no seller(or buyer) then a market maker or floor specialist HAS to take the other side of the trade to facilitate a market at the available quoted price. 

Moves supported by higher volume can be a confirming indicator. 

One thing (pasted from investopedia) that some people look at is upside/downside ration- see below.

Volume Upside/Downside Ratio 
The volume of advancing NYSE issues divided by the volume of declining NYSE issues. Investopedia explains Upside/Downside Ratio
If the upside-downside ratio is greater than 1, it shows that there is more volume in stocks that are increasing in price than in stocks that are decreasing in price. The higher the ratio is, the more bullish the market


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## Dilati (22 September 2009)

LostInTransit said:


> Ok thanks.
> 
> My interest is really knowing if there are more buyers or sellers at any given Volume. Another words are they more buyer then sellers or visa vesa. Is there anyway knowing this.
> 
> I have seen some other sites they have an down pointing arrow and up pointing arrow next to the stock with percentage written next to them. I was hoping something like that.




on commec theres that market depth it will tell you both how many buyers and sellers which has placed an oder and are waiting for there orders to be excuted but as a limit order not a market order.. and obevesly a transaction can not occur unless theres a buyer and seller..


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