In stock-market reporting, what does trading volume measure?

In stock-market reporting, trading volume measures the number of shares traded during a specified period.

A volume figure counts completed transactions in a security. If 500,000 shares change hands during a trading day, the reported daily volume is 500,000 shares, regardless of how many individual trades created that total. Volume is commonly shown beneath a price chart as bars.

Investors often compare volume with price movement. A sharp price rise or fall accompanied by unusually high volume may indicate stronger participation than the same move on quiet trading. However, volume alone does not reveal whether buyers or sellers were ultimately more informed or successful.

Volume is different from market capitalization, which measures a company’s total equity value, and from liquidity, which describes how easily an asset can be traded without greatly affecting its price. Exchanges and financial-data providers publish volume for individual securities and broader markets.