Now, volume figures are not available to currency traders in view of the over the counter unregulated nature of the currency market. However, volume figures are available to stocks and futures traders. The release of the volume figure in the futures market is delayed by one trading day.
As the futures contracts near the delivery month, volume increases. This increase in trading volume is good for traders and hedgers as it means better price discovery.
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. A Limit Up Day is a sign of strength however, a limit down day is usually followed by trading collars.
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.
Open interest gives you information about the total number of short and long contracts. Open interest varies with the number of traders entering and leaving the market. It rises by one when a new buyer and a new seller enter the market. Similarly falls by one when a buyer and a seller leave the market. Charting open interest on a daily basis in conjunction with the price charts helps you keep track of the trend in the futures market and can be a very useful tool.
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Tags: finance, investment