Tick volume isn't real volume: how it can still be useful

[FXS London Scalper]

What MT5 calls volume on FX is only the number of price updates, not lots traded. There's no central exchange, so real volume isn't available. Still, tick volume isn't useless.

Where it can help:

• Comparing activity between sessions on the same broker. Tick counts rise at the London open and on news.
• Spotting thin moments: a breakout on very low tick activity is more suspect.
• Checking whether a quiet day really is quiet compared with recent days.

Where it misleads:

• Comparing across brokers. Each feed updates differently, so counts aren't comparable.
• Treating it as volume in classical volume analysis. A spike in updates can be a spread change, not trading.

A simple use: plot average tick count per M1 bar by hour over a month. That gives a session activity profile for your broker, which can help pick trading hours.

Some traders use futures volume from exchanges as a better proxy, with a delay or a cost.

How do you use tick volume, if at all?