Oanda Trading Volume

Broker Discussion Forex Brokers
1

Hi, everyone.

First off, I’m a newbie that thought currency brokers didn’t list trading volume on charts. However, after visiting the Tradingview website and selecting a currency pair (EUR/USD, for example) a trader is able to choose which brokers’ chart they want to see.

I choose the Oanda chart and ignored the FXCM one (because they lost their license to operate in the US recently). It lists the volume and I was wondering if it’s actual client trading orders or follows some kind of index.

Since I don’t have an Oanda account, I was wanting some feedback/insight from those of you that do. How reliable is the volume listed?

P.S.
I did email Oanda asking about it, but would also like info from their clients and others that are familiar with this.

Thanks in advance.

2

Hi, and welcome to this forum.

You are seeing tick-volume, and it is specific to Oanda.

Ticks are price changes. They are not orders, and they are not volume in the usual sense.

Oanda’s tick-volume is simply a count of the number of times the price of a given currency pair changes in a given time period on the Oanda platform.

Here’s why we pay attention to tick-volume: The number of price changes per time period varies from one time period to the next, and this variation is roughly proportional to actual trading volume (which cannot be measured directly).

So, Oanda’a tick-volume for a given pair is a proxy for actual Oanda trading volume (which, if it could be measured directly, would presumably be measured in lots traded).

Furthermore, the tick-volume displayed by any large broker* mirrors closely the tick-volume displayed by other large brokers, and therefore it mirrors closely the actual volume of the overall (worldwide) market for a particular currency pair in a particular time period.

Consequently, by watching changes in tick-volume, we can get a good sense of the rise and fall of real volume (and of the volatility and liquidity associated with real volume) from one time period to the next, or over the course of a trading session, or over the course of an entire trading day.

* Regarding broker size: There are now only two large retail forex brokers in the U.S., forex.com (the largest) and Oanda. Forex.com is the retail division of Gain Capital, which has recently acquired the U.S. retail accounts of FXCM. With this acquisition, forex.com now has about a 58% share of the U.S. market. Oanda has less than half as much share.

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4 Likes
3

Clint,
thanks for replying and the input. Someone else also told me that what I was seeing were ticks and not actual volume.

Also, the reply from Oanda regarding this matter is below and either sounds too good to be true or “client volumes” needs defining.

"Thank you for contacting OANDA.

Based on your previous email, I believe that you are referring to the Advanced Charting window, which is powered by TradingView.

The volume you see corresponds to the actual client volumes that are traded using OANDA’s platforms."

1 Like
4

Hello, pip-fitter

Regarding the reply you received from Oanda, I think their Advanced Charting window needs some looking into. I don’t know anything about it, but I intend to find out.

I’m intrigued by the wording of the email reply which you received:

“The volume you see corresponds to the actual client volumes that are traded …”

It seems to me that, [I]if[/I] Trading View has captured actual (real) forex volume, they would say,

‘The volume you see [I]is[/I] actual client volume …’ – without the words [I]corresponds to[/I].

But, maybe I’m splitting hairs.

Forex volume is a subject dear to my heart, as you will readily see when you read THIS POST.

You might enjoy reading that entire THREAD.

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5

Clint,
I just received a different email from Oanda confirming that it is indeed tick volume. Thanks for you input on this.

6

Clint, do you have any experience with large lot orders? At least large for retail (50-100 lots)

7

$500 - $1,000 [B]per pip[/B] is a bit rich for my blood.

Are you able to trade that large?

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8

I’ve traded in the 25-lot range, when market conditions were smooth enough to take 5-10 pip scalps
and I had Currenex or Dukascopy available, just wondering how the existing set of brokers were for
larger lot trades…I can do simultaneous orders split across accounts/brokers right now, but it’s not
simple…