What It Means
Volume is the number of contracts of a specific option or futures strike that have traded during today's session, counted fresh from zero at the start of every trading day. It's easy to confuse with Open Interest, which counts contracts still open right now, regardless of when they were originally traded.
Example
A strike showing 2,00,000 in volume but only 20,000 in OI tells you most of that activity was traders opening and closing positions within the same day, intraday churn rather than fresh positions being carried forward. A strike where volume and OI sit closer together suggests more of today's trading turned into positions still held open overnight.
Warning
High volume on its own doesn't mean a strike is building real positioning. Check it against OI and Change in OI before reading it as conviction rather than same-day noise.
Related Terms
- Open Interest (OI) — what volume is most often confused with
- Change in OI — reads today's fresh positioning the way volume alone can't
- Option Chain — where volume is quoted alongside OI