Volume Dry-Up Inside a Consolidation
Volume tells you who is active, not who will win. During consolidation after an uptrend, we look for progressively lower volume bars while price holds above the rising trend line drawn from the last two swing lows.
In a recent classroom example, a regional bank spent eleven sessions in a flat band. Daily volume fell from roughly 120% of its twenty-day average to under 60% by session nine. Price never closed below the range midpoint. When volume expanded on session twelve, the break carried through the prior high within two sessions.
The mistake we see most often is treating any volume spike inside the range as distribution. Context matters: a spike that fails to close below the range low is often a stop hunt, not a trend change.
Mark volume as a separate panel annotation. Circle the three lowest-volume days and note where their closes sit relative to the range. Bring those marked charts to a private review if the pattern still feels ambiguous.