Volume dry-up
A stretch where volume stays well below its average for several bars.
What it shows
A volume dry-up is when volume has been below 50% of the 50-bar average for three or more bars in a row. It means few shares are changing hands.
Quiet trading often appears in tight ranges and before holidays. The label describes the quiet. It does not say what follows.
How we find it
The same code that draws it on your chart follows these steps, with the same result every time.
- Compute the 50-bar average volume.
- For each bar, ratio = volume ÷ average.
- Mark a dry-up when the ratio is under 0.5 for 3 bars in a row.
- Show how many bars it has lasted.
Starting values: Average 50 bars; Threshold 50%; Run 3 bars. These are proposed and will be tuned on real price data before launch.
How to read it
- Bars in the panel are volume.
- The shaded stretch is the dry-up.
- The dashed line is half the average.
Status labels you may see
| Label | What it means |
|---|---|
| In a dry-up | 3 or more bars under 50% of average. |
| Just ended | A dry-up ended in the last 3 bars. |
| Normal | No dry-up. |
What cancels it
Ends when volume goes above 50% of average.
What traders check next
- Price range during the dry-up.
- What volume did after.
- Holiday periods.
Limits
- Holidays create false dry-ups.
- Thresholds are choices.
- Says nothing about direction.
Try it in forecastviz
- Open any ticker and choose Volume and money flow → Volume dry-up in the left menu.
- Switch between 3M, 6M to see how the picture changes.
- Compare with Volume spike and Bollinger squeeze on the same chart.
Questions
Is quiet volume good or bad?
Neither. It is a fact about activity.
Why check it?
Some patterns are described as having quiet volume at the end.
Related trends
Further reading
- Murphy, Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets
- Granville, Granville's New Key to Stock Market Profits
- Pring, Technical Analysis Explained
- Achelis, Technical Analysis from A to Z
Educational only. Not financial advice, and not a price forecast. Charts are drawn by code from past price data, which may be delayed.