Weis Wave Volume

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: 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 applied wave by wave, a modern descendant of the wave charts 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.

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.