Effort versus result

Effort versus result compares the volume traded in a bar (the effort) with the distance price travelled in that bar (the result). A high ratio means many contracts were needed for little movement, which points to absorption; a low ratio means price moved with little volume behind it.

Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026

The idea in one ratio

The concept comes from volume analysis: every bar spends a certain effort, its volume, and obtains a certain result, its range. Dividing one by the other gives contracts per tick of movement. When the number is high, participants traded a lot and price barely moved; someone on the passive side was absorbing. When the number is low, price slid through with little resistance and little participation.

Range is measured in ticks so that the ratio is comparable across instruments. It is computed as round((high − low) / tick). A bar whose high equals its low has a range of zero and therefore no result to measure; the output is left empty, since dividing by zero would invent an infinite effort.

Reading high and low readings

  • High reading at the top of a rally: buyers spent heavily and gained nothing, which suggests supply is absorbing them. Check whether the bar's delta is positive to confirm the buyers were the aggressors.
  • High reading in the middle of a range: two-sided trade with no winner, often a rotation rather than a reversal.
  • Low reading during a trend: price advances easily, thin resistance on the way; no absorption yet.
  • Low reading on a wide bar after news: a gap-like move with little volume behind it, which may not be defended.

Effort vs result and delta efficiency

Effort versus result is about one bar and about price. Delta efficiency is about several bars and about the flow itself: the absolute net delta over N bars divided by the sum of absolute deltas, a value between 0 and 1. It is the Kaufman efficiency ratio applied to delta rather than closes. A value near 1 means the N bars all pushed the same way; a value near 0 means heavy aggression on both sides that cancelled out. Reading the two together answers a precise question: was the price move obtained with a coherent flow, or was it price drifting while the flow fought itself?

In Senzoukria

Effort vs Result (indicator id effort-vs-result, group Tape & flow) is a pane indicator computing volume divided by range in ticks for each bar. The range uses the instrument tick size, so an unknown tick produces no value, and a bar with zero range produces no value either. Parameters are a colour and a Smoothing period, 1 by default. Delta Efficiency (delta-efficiency) lives in the same group and takes a window of N bars (Period, 10 by default), with no value during the warm-up and no value when the N deltas are all zero.

Both derive from the bars built by the connected feed; the volume is the feed's volume, and the tick size comes from the contract definition.

Common mistakes

  • Measuring range in points instead of ticks and then comparing ES with NQ.
  • Calling every high reading absorption. Without the side from delta, you only know that volume was spent, not who spent it.
  • Setting the zero-range case to zero effort; it makes the calmest bars look like the easiest moves.
  • Using a long smoothing window and losing the single bar where absorption actually happened.

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Frequently asked questions

Is effort versus result the same as absorption?
It is one of the ways to measure absorption numerically. Absorption is the observation that heavy aggressive volume fails to move price; the effort-versus-result ratio quantifies exactly that on a per-bar basis. Confirming which side was absorbed still requires the delta of the bar or of the level.
What value counts as high?
There is no fixed threshold, because the ratio depends on the instrument's tick size, its typical volume and the session. Compare a bar with the bars around it and with the same time of day on previous sessions rather than with an absolute number.
Why does the indicator go blank on some bars?
Two cases produce no value by design: a bar whose high equals its low, which has no range to divide by, and an instrument whose tick size is unknown to the software. In both cases a blank says more than a zero or an arbitrarily large number would.

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