Why Trading Volume And Open Interest Are Important?

If you are looking for a direct real time market sentiment indicator than you need to look no more. Trading volume of a stock or what that matter any security is a direct real time market sentiment indicator that when combined with technical indicators can give highly profitable trading signals. When the trading volume is high, it means that the current trend in the market will continue.

Volume figures are very important for traders. Volume data is not possible for currency markets as the market is unregulated and over the counter due to which this data is unavailable. Stock and futures markets have volume data that helps the traders and investors in knowing how heavy a certain stock or futures contract is being traded. In case of futures market, volume figures are delayed by one trading day.

Increase in trading volume is good for traders and hedgers as it means better price discovery.As the futures contracts near the delivery month, volume increases.

A Limit Up Day is a sign of strength however, a limit down day is usually followed by trading collars. You should know the Limit Days in futures market. Limit days are those days when a futures contract makes a big move in a very short period of time with heavy volume.

Volume data alone can be confusing. So as a trader, you need to use volume data in conjunction with technical indicators. This way, you can understand the signficance of trading volume change and the trend change. You should also understand how volume data is reported in the stock and the futures market. Open interest is the number of open contracts of a security in the market during a given trading period. Open interest is particularly an important tool for futures traders.

Open interest also applies to the options contracts. Open interest is the number of contracts that are opened in a given period of time but are not settled or liquidated during that time.

Charting open interest alongwith the price charts can be an important means of tracking a contract. Open interest is the total number of contracts of a particular security that is long or short. Open interest rises by one when a new buyer or a new seller enters the market and takes a position in a security.