Hello Traders!
🔹Volume Spread Analysis IQ
This indicator was most voted on for our indicator competition - so here it is! Hope you guys like it :D
Volume Spread Analysis IQ [TradingIQ] is a chart-reading tool built to help traders judge effort, result, and background context in a way that is visual and practical.
Instead of forcing you to interpret volume and spread in isolation, this indicator organizes what the bar is doing into a readable structure so you can quickly see when the market is showing:
🔹Why Effort vs Result Matters in Volume Spread Analysis
The following information is relevant to VSA interpretation.
In any market, price movement is the visible outcome of an underlying battle between buyers and sellers. Volume represents the effort being applied in that battle, while the spread of the candle reflects the result of that effort.
When effort and result move together, the market is behaving efficiently. High effort producing a large price move suggests strong conviction and participation. In trending conditions this often confirms that the dominant side of the market is still in control.
However, when effort and result begin to diverge, it can reveal hidden information about what is happening beneath the surface.
For example:
High effort with very little upward progress may indicate that strong selling pressure is absorbing buyers. Even though buyers are active, their effort is not producing meaningful results. This type of imbalance can appear before weakness develops.
Likewise, high effort with very little downward progress can signal that sellers are being absorbed by hidden demand. Large amounts of selling activity fail to push price lower, suggesting accumulation may be taking place.
Low effort situations are also informative. A rally with very low effort often lacks participation and can signal weak demand, while a selloff with very little effort can suggest that selling pressure is fading.
From a structural perspective, the effort/result relationship helps traders distinguish between moves driven by genuine participation and moves that occur simply because the market is temporarily thin. This distinction can be important when evaluating breakouts, pullbacks, or potential reversals.
In short, effort tells you how hard the market is trying to move, while result tells you how successful that attempt actually was. When these two fall out of balance, it often reveals shifts in supply and demand before they become obvious on price alone.
🔹What the indicator shows🔹
🔸Background bias
Each candle is tinted to reflect the recent VSA background. This helps you judge whether the market is currently leaning strong, weak, or neutral based on the recent flow of bullish and bearish evidence.
🔸Effort vs. Result view
The lower panel converts both volume and spread into easy-to-read rankings from 1 to 10.
Effort represents how active the market is.
Result represents how much price actually moved.
🔸Per-candle labels
Optional candle labels show a simple readout for each bar:
R = Result rank
E = Effort rank
🔸Effort vs. Result summary table
A live table on the chart shows the current effort rank, result rank, and the current interpretation of their relationship.
🔸Key VSA event markers
The script marks classic VSA conditions directly on the chart when they appear in the proper context:
🔹How to read it
This combination helps separate bars that look dramatic from bars that are actually meaningful.
For example:
🔹Signal overview
No Demand
Highlights weak upward bars with low participation.
No Supply
Highlights weak downward bars where selling pressure appears limited.
Upthrust
Marks a rejection bar that appears in weak background conditions and can warn of downside risk.
Shakeout
Marks a lower rejection bar that appears in strong background conditions and can suggest bullish intent.
Stopping Volume
Flags heavy selling activity that may be halting a move lower. Context matters. In strong background it can be bullish. In weak background it can simply pause price before weakness resumes.
🔹Why this indicator is useful
Many traders can see volume. Far fewer can quickly judge whether that volume actually meant anything.
This tool is designed to help with exactly that.
It gives you:
🔹Best use cases
🔹Important note
This indicator is a chart-reading tool, not a promise of outcomes. VSA works best when signals are interpreted in context, not taken mechanically one by one.
Use the background, the effort/result relationship, and the signal location together.
Important consideration
We scoured the internet, books, you name it to find detailed information on VSA techniques. That said, information is sparse and conflicting depending on where you look. We relied mostly on gold standard literature. However, the information in that literature is far from objective.
Many descriptions are similar to…
“An upthrust is a bar that pushes up and then fails, showing rejection of higher prices, usually in a weak background.”
Coding this requires interpretation by the engineer - there aren’t exact rules to follow. This means the indicator’s presentation of an upthrust, shakeout, etc. might not always align with your definition of those events.
You can customize the settings to force the indicator to better match your interpretation.
🔹Inputs you can customize
The script includes simple user-friendly controls such as:
Advanced users can also enable raw threshold overrides for finer control.
🔹Closing Notes
And that’s about it!
This script might receive updates in the future if the community asks for it - stay tuned!
Thank you TradingView as always!
🔹Volume Spread Analysis IQ
This indicator was most voted on for our indicator competition - so here it is! Hope you guys like it :D
Volume Spread Analysis IQ [TradingIQ] is a chart-reading tool built to help traders judge effort, result, and background context in a way that is visual and practical.
Instead of forcing you to interpret volume and spread in isolation, this indicator organizes what the bar is doing into a readable structure so you can quickly see when the market is showing:
- low participation
- high participation
- narrow or wide spread
- potential hidden strength
- potential hidden weakness
- contextual VSA signals such as No Demand, No Supply, Upthrusts, Shakeouts, and Stopping Volume
🔹Why Effort vs Result Matters in Volume Spread Analysis
The following information is relevant to VSA interpretation.
In any market, price movement is the visible outcome of an underlying battle between buyers and sellers. Volume represents the effort being applied in that battle, while the spread of the candle reflects the result of that effort.
When effort and result move together, the market is behaving efficiently. High effort producing a large price move suggests strong conviction and participation. In trending conditions this often confirms that the dominant side of the market is still in control.
However, when effort and result begin to diverge, it can reveal hidden information about what is happening beneath the surface.
For example:
High effort with very little upward progress may indicate that strong selling pressure is absorbing buyers. Even though buyers are active, their effort is not producing meaningful results. This type of imbalance can appear before weakness develops.
Likewise, high effort with very little downward progress can signal that sellers are being absorbed by hidden demand. Large amounts of selling activity fail to push price lower, suggesting accumulation may be taking place.
Low effort situations are also informative. A rally with very low effort often lacks participation and can signal weak demand, while a selloff with very little effort can suggest that selling pressure is fading.
From a structural perspective, the effort/result relationship helps traders distinguish between moves driven by genuine participation and moves that occur simply because the market is temporarily thin. This distinction can be important when evaluating breakouts, pullbacks, or potential reversals.
In short, effort tells you how hard the market is trying to move, while result tells you how successful that attempt actually was. When these two fall out of balance, it often reveals shifts in supply and demand before they become obvious on price alone.
🔹What the indicator shows🔹
🔸Background bias
Each candle is tinted to reflect the recent VSA background. This helps you judge whether the market is currently leaning strong, weak, or neutral based on the recent flow of bullish and bearish evidence.
🔸Effort vs. Result view
The lower panel converts both volume and spread into easy-to-read rankings from 1 to 10.
Effort represents how active the market is.
Result represents how much price actually moved.
🔸Per-candle labels
Optional candle labels show a simple readout for each bar:
R = Result rank
E = Effort rank
🔸Effort vs. Result summary table
A live table on the chart shows the current effort rank, result rank, and the current interpretation of their relationship.
🔸Key VSA event markers
The script marks classic VSA conditions directly on the chart when they appear in the proper context:
- No Demand
- No Supply
- Upthrust
- Shakeout
- Stopping Volume
🔹How to read it
- Effort asks: How much activity came into this bar?
- Result asks: How much did price actually move?
- Background asks: Is recent behavior supporting strength or weakness?
This combination helps separate bars that look dramatic from bars that are actually meaningful.
For example:
- High effort with poor upward result can hint that buying is struggling
- High effort with poor downward result can hint that selling is being absorbed
- Low effort rallies can warn of weak demand
- Low effort selloffs can suggest supply is drying up
🔹Signal overview
No Demand
Highlights weak upward bars with low participation.
No Supply
Highlights weak downward bars where selling pressure appears limited.
Upthrust
Marks a rejection bar that appears in weak background conditions and can warn of downside risk.
Shakeout
Marks a lower rejection bar that appears in strong background conditions and can suggest bullish intent.
Stopping Volume
Flags heavy selling activity that may be halting a move lower. Context matters. In strong background it can be bullish. In weak background it can simply pause price before weakness resumes.
🔹Why this indicator is useful
Many traders can see volume. Far fewer can quickly judge whether that volume actually meant anything.
This tool is designed to help with exactly that.
It gives you:
- a cleaner way to read volume and spread together
- fast recognition of effort versus result imbalance
- background context instead of isolated signals
- VSA-style event labeling without requiring a cluttered chart
- friendly settings for newer users, plus advanced overrides for experienced users
🔹Best use cases
- confirming whether breakouts have real participation
- spotting weak rallies and weak selloffs
- judging whether aggressive bars are efficient or wasteful
- finding VSA-style reversal or continuation clues
- adding context to your existing market structure, liquidity, or price action model
🔹Important note
This indicator is a chart-reading tool, not a promise of outcomes. VSA works best when signals are interpreted in context, not taken mechanically one by one.
Use the background, the effort/result relationship, and the signal location together.
Important consideration
We scoured the internet, books, you name it to find detailed information on VSA techniques. That said, information is sparse and conflicting depending on where you look. We relied mostly on gold standard literature. However, the information in that literature is far from objective.
Many descriptions are similar to…
“An upthrust is a bar that pushes up and then fails, showing rejection of higher prices, usually in a weak background.”
Coding this requires interpretation by the engineer - there aren’t exact rules to follow. This means the indicator’s presentation of an upthrust, shakeout, etc. might not always align with your definition of those events.
You can customize the settings to force the indicator to better match your interpretation.
🔹Inputs you can customize
The script includes simple user-friendly controls such as:
- What counts as a small body
- What counts as a long wick
- How strict close location should be
- How strict spread and volume classifications should be
- How much background proof you want before the indicator leans strong or weak
- Whether to use broader or more traditional No Demand / No Supply logic
- Whether Shakeouts and Upthrusts should require clear trend alignment
Advanced users can also enable raw threshold overrides for finer control.
🔹Closing Notes
And that’s about it!
This script might receive updates in the future if the community asks for it - stay tuned!
Thank you TradingView as always!
Release Notes
- Added an option to show regular volume bars on the grid.
- Added an option to remove neon.
Release Notes
- Added option to remove grid and show mismatch circles only - "Show Mismatches only"
Release Notes
Added the option to show Open Interest delta per candlestick - credit to MrEthan for coding this part and sending it to me as a new feature!
Also!
Added the option to show an Effort MA and Result MA - so you can track smoothed effort+result over time! MrEthan suggested this feature, coded it, and made it part of this indicator!
So thanks MrEthan!
Enjoy!
Open-source script
In true TradingView spirit, the creator of this script has made it open-source, so that traders can review and verify its functionality. Kudos to the author! While you can use it for free, remember that republishing the code is subject to our House Rules.
Get Access To Our Tools: tradingiq.io
Subscribe For Daily Content: youtube.com/watch?v=Gx_cW29BUds
Subscribe For Daily Content: youtube.com/watch?v=Gx_cW29BUds
Disclaimer
The information and publications are not meant to be, and do not constitute, financial, investment, trading, or other types of advice or recommendations supplied or endorsed by TradingView. Read more in the Terms of Use.
Open-source script
In true TradingView spirit, the creator of this script has made it open-source, so that traders can review and verify its functionality. Kudos to the author! While you can use it for free, remember that republishing the code is subject to our House Rules.
Get Access To Our Tools: tradingiq.io
Subscribe For Daily Content: youtube.com/watch?v=Gx_cW29BUds
Subscribe For Daily Content: youtube.com/watch?v=Gx_cW29BUds
Disclaimer
The information and publications are not meant to be, and do not constitute, financial, investment, trading, or other types of advice or recommendations supplied or endorsed by TradingView. Read more in the Terms of Use.