Volume and thoughts

 In a meeting today we were talking about a few different trades and what makes variables put a trade in a certain category.  What makes this interesting is that you really can't predict tooo much. Yes, we have an idea of what COULD be setting up but we need confirmations. What was the thing that really set the trades apart? VOLUME! we had a couple different trades that may have started looking different but one had a pull back with little volume at the pull back and the other had plenty of volume into each and every pull back. Different setups act differently and we get different trades based on what's happening in the moment. Volume/Participation is a HUGE factor in knowing what is likely to play out. What I think is important is that even though we have an idea of what might play out it is a MIGHT not a FOR SURE.  We are still playing probabilities. Anyway volume is important. I think you can kind of imagine what was happening with the two stocks in the example with the different volume pattern. while both went up initially when they pulled back one kept getting hit with volume and had a nice trend up for quite a while. The other when it pulled back there wasn't much volume there and while it went up after the dip it couldn't press higher and eventually drifted down. So volume is important - I said it again. I see many charts where volume and the candles is pretty much all that they use. I think that's impressive, but that's not me. I like to see several other things so that I have more conviction in the trade and will be more willing to put decent size into the trade.  Speaking of volume, I feel like the volume in the market overall has been down the past week or so. Just something that I've noticed as I run through charts in the evening. This begs the question then of what does low volume mean for the overall market if we're hitting highs and there's low volume. Will there be a spike in volume over the highs? Or with the VIX so low, will we see and increase in volatility as the market has a pullback? I don't know. But it will be interesting to see. What do you think are important factors that the market is taking into account right now? Inflation numbers, I'd say, have to be the biggest factor (interest rates and the mood behind them).  That's it, that's all for today. Cheers!