# Weis Wave Volume A Volume & Order Flow concept (Cumulative flow lines) in the LuxAlgo Library, with 2 indicator implementations. ## What is Weis Wave Volume? Weis Wave Volume is a Wyckoff-lineage tool developed by David Weis that organizes volume by swing instead of by bar. Price is first segmented into alternating up and down waves using a reversal rule, essentially a [zigzag](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/zigzag-structure/): a wave stays alive until price retraces by a chosen amount. The volume of every bar inside a wave is then summed and plotted as a single histogram column, colored by wave direction. Instead of asking how much traded in one bar, it asks how much effort went into the entire swing. The read is Wyckoff's [effort versus result](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/effort-vs-result/) applied wave by wave, a modern descendant of the [wave charts](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/wyckoff-wave-and-volume-studies/) Wyckoff himself kept. Growing volume on up-waves that make good progress supports an advance; a heavy wave that travels a short distance suggests the move is being absorbed; shrinking volume on pushes to new extremes suggests the drive is tiring. The tool frames those comparisons cleanly, but the conclusions still depend on context and are not mechanical signals. Weis, a longtime Wyckoff educator, laid the method out in his book Trades About to Happen, and popular implementations by LazyBear and modhelius carried it onto modern charting platforms. The reversal rule is the only real parameter, and it can be defined in points, percent, or volatility units; every choice redraws the waves, which is why two users of the same tool can see different columns on the same chart. Refinements swap what gets summed: LuxAlgo's Delta ZigZag accumulates [volume delta](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/volume-delta/) per swing instead of total volume, splitting each wave's effort into the aggression of buyers versus sellers rather than raw participation. The structural caveats are the honest part. The current wave is open by construction: its column keeps growing until the reversal rule confirms the swing ended, so the newest reading is always provisional, and a threshold change rewrites history. Comparisons are relative, not absolute: a heavy wave means heavy against neighboring waves on the same settings, nothing more. And the volume feed sets the ceiling: on instruments reporting tick counts rather than traded size, wave columns measure activity, not business done, and the Wyckoff vocabulary of effort should be read accordingly. ## How to identify Weis Wave signals on charts The tool plots one histogram column per completed swing. Reading it is a comparison exercise: each wave against the waves around it. 1. Set the reversal threshold so the resulting waves match the swings you actually trade: too small produces noise waves, too large merges distinct swings into one column. 2. Confirm the zigzag segmentation visually: each column should correspond to a price swing you would recognize without the indicator. 3. Compare consecutive same-direction waves: rising columns on successive up-waves show effort building behind the advance, shrinking columns show it draining. 4. Set effort against result: a tall column whose wave covered little ground flags absorption, most meaningful when it happens into an obvious level rather than in open space. 5. Qualify breakouts by wave, not bar: a range break backed by a column clearly exceeding recent waves shows participation, the swing-level version of checking [volume at breakout](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/volume-at-breakout/). ## How traders use it - To compare effort across alternating swings: if down-waves carry progressively less volume than the up-waves they interrupt, sellers are read as losing interest, and the reverse for buyers. - To spot absorption at range extremes: a large-volume wave into support or resistance that produces little price progress is treated as a sign the aggressive side is being met by passive orders. - To qualify breakouts: a breakout wave whose cumulative volume clearly exceeds recent waves shows participation, while a breakout on a thin wave invites suspicion of a failed move. - As a swing-level divergence read: successive pushes to new price extremes on shrinking wave columns, the wave-sized cousin of [volume divergence](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/volume-divergence/), warn that the drive is running out of participants. - In delta-refined form: summing signed aggression per swing, as LuxAlgo's Delta ZigZag does, shows which side initiated the business inside each wave, sharpening the absorption read when heavy columns and small progress coincide. ## Weis Wave Volume vs other volume lenses - **Volume Profile** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/volume-profile/): The profile organizes volume by price level, showing where business accumulated; Weis Wave organizes it by swing, showing when effort was spent. One maps acceptance, the other maps the force behind each push; they answer different questions and combine well. - **Volume Delta** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/volume-delta/): Delta splits volume by aggressor side per bar, demanding tick data. Weis Wave sums total volume per swing from any OHLCV feed. Delta is finer-grained about who initiated; Weis Wave is coarser but readable at swing scale, and hybrid tools sum delta per wave. - **Volume Spike** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/volume-spike/): A spike is a single-bar anomaly, easy to see and easy to overweight. A Weis wave aggregates the whole swing, so one loud bar inside an otherwise thin push no longer dominates the read. The wave view trades immediacy for a fairer measure of sustained effort. ## FAQ ### How is Weis Wave Volume different from OBV? OBV is a running total: each bar's entire volume is added or subtracted based on close direction, producing one cumulative line. Weis Wave Volume resets with every swing: it sums volume within each wave and displays it per wave, so you compare discrete packets of effort rather than the slope of an endless line. They answer related but different questions. ### What wave size setting should I use for Weis Wave Volume? There is no single correct setting. The reversal threshold defines the waves: a small threshold produces many short waves and more noise, a large one produces fewer, broader waves that smooth over detail. Practitioners match the threshold to the instrument's volatility and their trading timeframe, then check that the resulting waves line up with the swings they actually trade. ### Does Weis Wave Volume repaint? The live wave does, by design: its column keeps accumulating until the reversal threshold is met, and the final zigzag pivot is only confirmed in hindsight. Completed waves are stable on fixed settings. This is inherent to swing segmentation rather than a flaw, but it means the newest column should be treated as provisional until the next wave confirms. ### What markets does Weis Wave Volume work on? Anywhere the volume feed means something: futures, equities, and crypto venues that report traded size give the cleanest columns. On spot forex, where feeds report tick counts, the waves measure activity rather than transacted business, which weakens the effort-versus-result vocabulary even if the relative comparisons retain some use. Thin instruments produce columns dominated by a handful of prints. ### Is Weis Wave Volume the same as Wyckoff's wave charts? It is a direct descendant. Wyckoff and his students kept hand-built wave charts tracking the price progress and volume of each swing; Weis systematized the volume half with an explicit reversal rule and a histogram display suited to modern platforms. The analytical intent, judging each swing's effort against its result, is unchanged from the original practice. ### How do I read absorption on Weis Wave Volume? Look for a notably tall column whose wave made little price progress into a meaningful location, such as a range extreme. Heavy effort with poor result implies the aggressors were absorbed by passive orders. Location does the qualifying: the same signature in the middle of nowhere is just a busy chop, and even textbook absorption sometimes precedes continuation rather than reversal. ## Implementations in the Library - Delta ZigZag (LuxAlgo): https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/delta-zigzag/ - Trend Volume Accumulations (LuxAlgo): https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/trend-volume-accumulations/ ## Related concepts - Money Flow Index: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/money-flow-index/ - OBV: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/obv/ - OBV Divergence: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/obv-divergence/ - Accumulation/Distribution Line: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/accumulation-distribution-line/ - Chaikin Oscillator: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/chaikin-oscillator/ - Chaikin Money Flow: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/chaikin-money-flow/ - Twiggs Money Flow: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/twiggs-money-flow/ - Williams A/D: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/williams-a-d/ - Price Volume Trend: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/price-volume-trend/ - Negative Volume Index: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/negative-volume-index/ --- Source: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/weis-wave-volume/ (LuxAlgo Library, the encyclopedia of trading & technical analysis). Free to use with attribution: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/license/