# Better Volume Classifications Also known as: Hawkeye volume. A Volume & Order Flow concept (Volume behavior) in the LuxAlgo Library, with 1 indicator implementation. ## What are Better Volume Classifications? Better Volume classifications are a bar-labeling scheme that sorts each bar into a volume archetype using three inputs: volume, the bar's range (spread), and the close. Typical categories are climax up and climax down (extreme volume paired with a wide range, on up bars and down bars respectively), churn (extreme volume trapped in a narrow range), climax churn (both at once), and low volume (activity drying up). Labels come from comparing each bar's raw volume, its volume times range, and its volume divided by range against rolling extremes over a lookback window, so every classification is relative to the instrument's own recent behavior. The best-known implementation is the Better Volume indicator, published free by trader Barry Taylor of the Emini-Watch site, and the same paint-the-volume idea circulates commercially as Hawkeye volume, which LazyBear's popular TradingView port approximates. The roots are older: Richard Wyckoff's effort-versus-result principle and Tom Williams' Volume Spread Analysis both judge volume by the range it produced, and Better Volume turns that judgment into mechanical labels. Similar systems trade under several names; the categories, not the branding, are the concept. Each label compresses one effort-versus-result verdict. Climax bars flag potential exhaustion after extended moves, marking the point where the last aggressive buyers or sellers commit at once. Churn flags effort that produced no progress, heavy volume trapped in a narrow range, which often reflects absorption near highs or lows. Low-volume bars mark tests and disinterest, kin to VSA's no-demand and no-supply bars. The scheme's value is normalization. A raw [volume spike](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/volume-spike/) says only that activity was large; classifying it against range says what that activity accomplished, and benchmarking against rolling extremes keeps the labels portable across instruments and timeframes without fixed thresholds. Like [relative volume](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/relative-volume/), the labels ask whether behavior is unusual for this market; unlike it, they also ask whether the effort moved price. ## How to identify Better Volume classifications on a chart Most traders apply an indicator that paints the volume histogram, but the labels can be checked by hand: 1. Set a lookback window (20 bars is a common default, and Taylor's own versions add a second, shorter window so strong and weak extremes are graded separately) and track three series: each bar's raw volume, its volume times range, and its volume divided by range. 2. Label climax up when an up bar's volume-times-range sets a window high; the same print on a down bar is climax down. 3. Label churn when volume divided by range sets a window high, meaning heavy trade bought almost no movement; a bar qualifying as climax and churn at once prints climax churn. 4. Label low volume when the bar's raw volume is the lowest of the window, the classic quiet test bar. 5. Read every label by location: a climax after a long advance, churn at a swing high, or a low-volume pullback into support each mean something different from the same print in the middle of a range. ## How traders use it - Reversal watch: a climax label after an extended trend is an exhaustion alert, and standard practice is to wait for confirmation, such as failed follow-through or a low-volume test that holds, rather than fading the climax bar itself. - Absorption detection: churn near highs or lows suggests one side is quietly absorbing the other's aggression, in the spirit of stopping volume, with the winner judged by what price does over the next few bars. - Trend health: low-volume labels on pullbacks support continuation, while repeated climax and churn prints into the same zone warn that a move is being capped. - Breakout validation: a climax up bar clearing a range boundary shows the participation breakouts need, the same question asked by [volume at breakout](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/volume-at-breakout/), while churn at the boundary warns the push is being absorbed. - Location pairing: labels matter most at pre-marked levels, so many traders read them against a [volume profile](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/volume-profile/), watching how climax or churn bars behave at the [point of control](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/point-of-control/) or the edges of the [value area](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/value-area/). ## Better Volume Classifications vs. related concepts - **Volume Spike** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/volume-spike/): A volume spike flags magnitude alone, any bar far above its average. Better Volume classifications add the range dimension, separating a spike that drove price (climax) from one that went nowhere (churn). - **Relative Volume** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/relative-volume/): Relative volume normalizes activity against the same time of day to say how unusual participation is. It carries no verdict on what the volume achieved, which is exactly the judgment the classifications encode. - **OBV** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/obv/): OBV accumulates volume by close direction into one cumulative line rather than labeling bars. Better Volume answers what this bar was; OBV tracks where the pressure has been flowing over time. ## FAQ ### What do the colors on a Better Volume style indicator mean? Each color is a bar classification, typically climax up, climax down, churn, climax churn, and low volume, with everything else left neutral. The labels come from comparing a bar's volume, volume times range, and volume per range against recent extremes over a lookback window, so a climax means extreme for that instrument's recent history, not an absolute level. ### Is a climax volume bar a buy or sell signal? Neither by itself. Climax volume marks unusually intense participation, which appears near turns but also inside strong trends and at valid breakouts. Practitioners treat it as an alert: exhaustion becomes the working read if follow-through fails and a subsequent low-volume test holds, continuation if price keeps accepting the new prices on the very next bars. ### What does a churn volume bar mean? Churn is extreme volume trapped in a narrow range: the market worked hard and went nowhere. Near highs it often means sellers are absorbing buying, near lows the reverse, and mid-range it can simply be two-sided noise, so churn is read by location and by what price does immediately afterward. ### Are Better Volume and Hawkeye volume the same thing? Close relatives rather than copies. Both paint volume bars by comparing volume and range against recent history, and both descend from Wyckoff and VSA ideas. Better Volume is Barry Taylor's freely published version with explicit climax, churn and low-volume rules; Hawkeye is a commercial tool with proprietary formulas that public ports only approximate. ### Do Better Volume classifications work on forex and crypto? They run, with a caveat. Spot forex volume is tick count from one broker's feed and crypto volume is per-exchange, so labels describe activity on that feed rather than the whole market. Because each classification is relative to the instrument's own recent extremes, the labels stay internally consistent, which is why traders still use them there. ### What lookback window should Better Volume use? There is no single standard. Ports commonly default to about 20 bars, and Barry Taylor's own versions run two windows, a longer one that grades strong climax and churn bars and a shorter one for weak ones. Shorter lookbacks print more labels and more noise, while longer ones reserve labels for rarer events, so the setting tunes sensitivity rather than the underlying logic. ## Implementations in the Library - Better Volume Classifications (LuxAlgo): https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/better-volume-classifications/ ## Related concepts - Relative Volume: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/relative-volume/ - Volume Spike: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/volume-spike/ - Volume at Breakout: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/volume-at-breakout/ - Volume Dry-up: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/volume-dry-up/ - Volume Oscillator: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/volume-oscillator/ - PVO: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/pvo/ - Up/down Volume Ratio: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/up-down-volume-ratio/ - Pocket Pivot: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/pocket-pivot/ - Volume Divergence: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/volume-divergence/ - Bill Williams Market Facilitation Index: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/bill-williams-market-facilitation-index/ --- Source: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/better-volume-classifications/ (LuxAlgo Library, the encyclopedia of trading & technical analysis). Free to use with attribution: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/license/