What tick volume actually measures in forex
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 7:05 am
Forex has no central exchange, so there is no true volume figure. What platforms show as volume is the number of price updates received during a bar. That is tick volume, and it tracks activity rather than the amount traded.
Still, it correlates reasonably well with real turnover on liquid pairs, which is why so many traders rely on it. A bar with twice the usual ticks generally had more happening than a bar with half.
The weakness is that tick counts depend on the feed. A broker that aggregates quotes from five providers will show more ticks than one using two. A platform that throttles updates under load will show fewer. The same minute can have 140 ticks on one feed and 90 on another.
So the absolute number means little. What matters is the ratio against the recent average on the same feed. A spike to three times normal is informative on any broker, even when the raw count differs.
Anyone comparing tick volume between two brokers on the same pair at the same moment, and how large was the gap?
Still, it correlates reasonably well with real turnover on liquid pairs, which is why so many traders rely on it. A bar with twice the usual ticks generally had more happening than a bar with half.
The weakness is that tick counts depend on the feed. A broker that aggregates quotes from five providers will show more ticks than one using two. A platform that throttles updates under load will show fewer. The same minute can have 140 ticks on one feed and 90 on another.
So the absolute number means little. What matters is the ratio against the recent average on the same feed. A spike to three times normal is informative on any broker, even when the raw count differs.
Anyone comparing tick volume between two brokers on the same pair at the same moment, and how large was the gap?