Trading volume

Trading volume is the total value or quantity of an asset traded over a period, most often the past 24 hours. Price sites show it alongside market cap, for example "24h volume: $30 billion".

Volume helps you judge how active and liquid a market is. A coin with high volume relative to its market cap can usually be bought or sold without moving the price much. Technical traders also look at whether volume confirms a price move: a breakout on rising volume is considered more convincing than one on falling volume.

Reported volume should be treated with caution. Wash trading, where an exchange or trader trades with itself to inflate activity, has historically made some exchanges and tokens look far busier than they really are. Comparing volume across several reputable exchanges, and looking at order-book depth rather than volume alone, gives a more realistic picture. Spot volume and derivatives volume are also usually reported separately and should not be mixed up.