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Effort vs Result

By LuxAlgoMar 16, 2026

Effort vs Result is an indicator on Vela, our next-generation charting platform, written in Pine Script®.

Static chart image

Effort vs Result asks of every bar whether the volume spent bought commensurate price movement. Effort is volume against its 20-bar average, result the bar's movement against its own; their balance plots around a harmony baseline: negative when heavy effort goes unrewarded, positive when price travels with little behind it. It instruments the Wyckoff law of effort vs result at bar and swing-leg scale, and requires a symbol that reports volume.

How to Trade the Effort vs Result?

  • Diamond flags: effort without result (volume at least 1.5× average, movement at or below 0.5×), the absorption warning, on the side the bar was heading.
  • Circle flags: result without effort: unusual ground covered on thin volume, ease of movement that may prove fragile.
  • Balance color: stretches below zero show effort being absorbed; above zero, price moving easily.
  • Swing Read: a leg that needed more volume for less ground than the prior leg in the same direction flags exhaustion, alertable both ways.

Verdicts need location, as everywhere in the Wyckoff family: heavy effort with no result at a tested level is a finding; the same print mid-range is noise.

Effort vs Result Settings

  • Normalization Length (default 20): the window defining what counts as average.
  • Result Basis (default Range + Net Progress): what counts as result: true range, close-to-close progress, or their average.
  • High Threshold (default 1.5) / Low Threshold (default 0.5): multiples of average marking high and lacking readings.
  • Flag Effort/Result Divergences (default enabled): the on-chart diamond and circle marks.
  • Swing Detection Length (default 5): pivot length defining the swing legs.
  • Show Dashboard (default enabled); an off-by-default style toggle plots the normalized Effort and Result components.

Frequently Asked Questions

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