There is no such number
A stock trades on an exchange, so the exchange can count every share that changed hands and publish it. Forex has no central exchange — it is thousands of banks and brokers dealing directly — so nobody can count the whole market. The number your platform shows is tick volume: how many times the price changed during that candle, at your broker. Another broker will show you a different figure for the same hour.
What tick volume is still good for
Price ticks more often when more people are trading, so tick volume tracks activity reasonably well even though it measures nothing in money. As a relative measure — this hour is busier than the last, London open is busier than the Tokyo afternoon — it is genuinely useful. As an absolute number it is meaningless, and comparing it between brokers or pairs is comparing two different meters.
Range says the same thing without pretending
The distance a candle covers from high to low is a direct measure of how much the price moved, and it needs no exchange to compute. Big ranges mean an active market and small ranges mean a quiet one, which is most of what people are looking to volume for anyway. Cubie FX uses exactly this for its Most active list, and says so on the screen, because calling it volume would be a lie about where the number came from.
The classic readings, and how much to trust them
A breakout on rising activity has more participants behind it than one on falling activity. A trend where each push is on less activity than the last is losing participation. Both of these are reasonable, and both are softer than the books make them sound: they describe what is happening, they do not tell you what happens next, and on tick volume from one broker they are a hint rather than evidence.
Where a real number exists
Futures markets do have real volume, and the CME’s currency futures track spot closely enough that some traders read volume there and trade the spot pair. That is a legitimate workaround. It is also more machinery than a beginner needs — the honest beginner version is to use session times and candle ranges to know when the market is busy, and not to build anything on the bars under the chart.
In short
| Forex volume bars show | Tick count at your broker |
|---|---|
| Why | No central exchange, so nothing to count |
| Comparable between brokers | No |
| Honest substitute | Candle range, and session times |
| Real volume exists in | Currency futures |
Common questions
So volume indicators are useless in forex?
Not useless — just measuring something other than what their name says. As a relative activity gauge on one broker they work. As the volume figure that stock traders mean, they do not exist here.
Why do two brokers show different volume?
Because each is counting its own price updates. There is no shared feed to agree on, so there is no shared number.
What should I use instead?
Candle range for how much the market is moving, and the session clock for when it is likely to move. Both are honest about where they come from.
Trading forex and CFDs on margin carries a high level of risk. Most retail accounts lose money. Nothing on this page is financial advice or a recommendation to trade.