Absorption — Trading Glossary

A bar with much more volume than the bars around it but a small body or range: heavy selling (or buying) met by a large opposite order that soaked it up, so price barely moved.

It comes from Wyckoff's effort-versus-result idea: volume is the effort, the move is the result. At a low after a strong drop, absorption can mark a large buyer; the usual confirmation is a later candle breaking the absorption candle's high.

Also called: effort vs result, effort versus result, volume absorption.

Taught in

The Candle That Didn’t MoveStrategy Playbook

Volume as effort, the candle as result: why a huge-volume candle that barely moves at a low can mark a big buyer, how to trade it with a defined stop, and why US30 volume is tick volume.

Also covered in that lesson

Tick volumeThe number of price changes during a bar on a broker's feed. CFDs like US30 show tick volume because they have no exchange count of contracts traded.