# Volume Delta (/platform/charts/order-flow/volume-delta)



Both tools come from footprint **buy vs sell volume**. They need a [footprint-capable symbol](/platform/charts/data). They also need a fixed bar duration, so they are unavailable on monthly timeframes. Add them from **Indicators → Orderflow**.

![](/images/charts/order-flow/volume-delta.png)

## Volume Delta [#volume-delta]

Per-bar `buy volume − sell volume` as columns in a new pane. Green when buyers lifted more; red when sellers hit more.

**Mode** switches what the delta measures:

* **Total** (default): total buy volume minus total sell volume (who traded *more*).
* **Average**: average trade size per side (`volume ÷ trade count`): who traded *larger*. A rising average-mode delta with a flat total-mode delta means fewer but bigger buyers.

Average mode needs per-side trade counts; bars without them leave an honest gap instead of plotting zero.

## Cumulative Volume Delta [#cumulative-volume-delta]

**CVD** is the running sum of the per-bar delta, in its own pane. Reading it answers whether pressure is *accumulating*: price making highs while CVD makes lower highs is the classic absorption divergence.

* **Style**: **Candles** (default, with true intra-bar wicks showing how far delta swung inside each bar), **Line**, or **Area**.
* **Anchor**: where the running sum resets, in UTC periods: **Day**, **Week**, **Month** (default), or **All data**.
* **Mode**: **Total** or **Average**, same semantics as Volume Delta.

Use Volume Delta to read each bar; use CVD to see whether that pressure is accumulating across the session.

For the print-count equivalents of both tools, see [Trade Count](/platform/charts/order-flow/trade-count).