The total value of reported spot trades across the exchanges a data provider tracks, over a rolling 24 hours. Volume is the conviction check on a price move. A large move on thin volume and the same move on heavy volume are different events, and price alone does not distinguish them.
Live. The figure above updates in your browser while this page is open, and the page was built with a real one in it rather than a blank.
The plain description
The total value of reported spot trades across the exchanges a data provider tracks, over a rolling 24 hours.
Volume is the conviction check on a price move. A large move on thin volume and the same move on heavy volume are different events, and price alone does not distinguish them.
Stated so you could reproduce it
Each venue reports its own traded volume. The provider sums them, sometimes with adjustments for venues known to overstate.
That "sometimes" matters. Exchange reported volume has been materially inflated at various points in this market's history, by wash trading and by fee structures that rewarded it, and the adjustments providers make are their own methodology rather than an audited standard.
The bands, and what each one actually means
| Reading | What it indicates |
|---|---|
| Rising with price | Participation is confirming the move. The most straightforward reading on the board. |
| Falling while price rises | Fewer participants driving the move. Worth noticing, and frequently noticed too late. |
| A sharp spike | Usually a liquidation cascade, a listing, or a scheduled macroeconomic release. Check which before reading anything into it. |
The part that gets left out
- Reported volume is not audited. Treat the trend as more reliable than the level.
- It is spot only here. Derivatives volume is several times larger on most days and is where much of the real price discovery happens.
- Volume concentrated on one venue is a different market from the same volume spread across twenty, and the headline figure cannot tell them apart. Individual token pages on this site show that concentration directly.