Which volume indicator is best for your TradingView chart?

Compare five TradingView volume indicators

Choose one measure that answers your question before adding a second filter. OBV, CMF and MFI reuse price and volume, so agreement between them is not three independent pieces of evidence. The comparisons below concern calculation and use, not a measured ranking of trading performance.

Relative volume: choose the denominator first

TradingView documents screener Relative Volume using the prior 10 bars, excluding the current bar. Its screener Relative Volume at Time instead compares the matching five-minute bar across prior days. Those definitions should not be assumed for every community script with RVOL in its name. Read the script settings and formula.

• Rolling-bar baseline: useful when your question concerns activity relative to the recent sequence. Specify whether the current bar is excluded.
• Same-time baseline: useful when comparing a session open with other opens rather than with the preceding quiet bars. Keep session hours consistent.
• Hypothetical example: a completed bar with 300,000 shares against a 100,000-share baseline has RVOL 3.0. Against a same-time baseline of 250,000 shares, it has RVOL 1.2. Both calculations are correct, but answer different questions.
• An unfinished bar has only accumulated part of its eventual volume. Comparing it with completed bars can make activity look unusually low early in the bar.

Missing volume and forex tick volume

A volume indicator cannot recover data the provider does not supply. TradingView documents symbols and timeframes with no volume, as well as feeds that supply tick volume, meaning the number of price updates. Check the exact exchange or broker prefix and chart timeframe before interpreting a blank pane.

Why OBV and CMF can disagree on the same bar

Consider a hypothetical bar after a previous close of 100: open 104, high 105, low 102, close 102.5, volume 1,000. OBV adds 1,000 because the close rose from 100. The CMF multiplier is (205 − 105 − 102) / 3 = −2/3, so this bar contributes about −667 to its money-flow numerator. CMF as a whole still depends on the other bars in its lookback.

• The close-to-close gain explains the positive OBV contribution; the close near the bar low explains the negative CMF contribution. Neither calculation is broken.
• A high RVOL reading on this bar would describe unusual activity, without resolving its direction. Record the disagreement instead of selecting whichever indicator supports a preferred trade.
• MFI uses changes in typical price, not the OBV or CMF rule. A traditional reading above 80 or below 20 describes an extreme on that scale; it does not establish when price will reverse.
• If a strategy requires both a rising OBV and positive CMF, disagreement means the combined condition fails. Decide that rule before examining the outcome.

Turn price and volume analysis into a testable filter

Start with a price setup and ask whether a volume filter changes its results. The following is a hypothetical specification for daily bars, not a recommended strategy or a tested edge. It deliberately separates the signal from the trading decisions needed to evaluate it.

• Signal: after a daily bar closes, require its close to exceed the highest high of the previous 20 bars. Exclude the current bar from that reference.
• Volume filter: require completed-bar volume to exceed 1.5 times the mean of the previous 20 completed bars. Make the lookback and multiplier adjustable.
• Unavailable state: skip the signal if volume is missing, the baseline is zero, or there is insufficient history. Show the reason rather than a bullish or bearish label.
• Evaluation: define entry timing, exit, position sizing, fees and slippage before comparing the price setup with and without the filter on a separate test period.
• Failure review: a volume spike followed by a failed breakout still meets the original volume condition. Record the loss; do not redefine the rule afterward to exclude it.

Build the selected rule in Pineify

Describe the symbol, timeframe, baseline, missing-data behavior and alert timing to the Pine Script AI Coding Agent. Ask for adjustable inputs and an output showing why a bar passed or failed. Review the generated script and test it in TradingView. If you prefer visual configuration, the Visual Pine Script Editor includes OBV, CMF and MFI components for building conditions.

• Example request: create the daily breakout filter above with separate price-condition and volume-condition markers, plus an unavailable-data state.
• Request a syntax check and inspect the rule behavior. Compilation alone does not establish data quality or profitability.
• For alerts, choose confirmed chart-bar evaluation if your rule uses completed bars. This waits until the close; it does not prevent every possible source of repainting in a more complex script.