Participation
What it measures¶
Volume is the number of shares traded in a session. Participation compares recent volume with its usual level: the average daily volume of the last five sessions divided by the average of the fifty sessions before them. A reading of 1.5 means the past week traded half as much again as usual.
The tile has one vote, P1: was the past week's volume at least 1.5 times the usual level, on a rise in the price over those five sessions? With a single vote it prints a noun rather than a verdict word: heavy (1.5 or more), normal (between 0.6 and 1.5) or quiet (0.6 or less).
Why it is on the page¶
Studies of unusual trading volume found that shares with a spike of volume tended to do better over the following month, and that volume jumps when a price crosses its yearly high or low. Heavy volume on a rise is read as broad interest behind a move; a move on quiet volume, as a thin one.
Thresholds, their source and the population they were fitted on¶
| Volume ratio | Noun | Vote |
|---|---|---|
| 1.5 or more, on a five-session rise | heavy | ✓ passed |
| 1.5 or more, without a rise | heavy | ✕ failed |
| between 0.6 and 1.5 | normal | ✕ failed |
| 0.6 or less | quiet | ✕ failed |
- Sources: Gervais, Kaniel and Mingelgrin (2001), "The high-volume return premium"; Huddart, Lang and Yetman (2009) on volume around the 52-week high and low. The 1.5 line follows William O'Neil's commonly cited 1.4 to 1.5 times; the 0.6 line is the product's own.
- Fitted on: US shares (Gervais and colleagues), replicated in Australia, Warsaw and Vienna; Huddart and colleagues on US shares.
- Evidence grade: peer-reviewed and replicated (the effect); practitioner convention (the lines).
A worked example¶
On daily bars to 23 October 2026:
- Honeywell International — five-session volume 1.12 times the prior fifty-session average, on a 4.6% rise: normal, vote failed.
- Apple — 0.94 times, on a 1.2% rise: normal, vote failed.
What “No verdict” means here¶
On a market that publishes no volume, the tile is not applicable — a fact about the market, not missing data — and its vote leaves the strip's count. When the newest daily bar is older than the previous weekday, the tile keeps its noun and is marked stale.
What the verdict is and is not¶
The noun describes how much trading there was in the past week compared with the usual. Volume alone does not say who traded or why. It is not a forecast and not an instruction to trade the shares.