On this page
Level Count — Volume, in its own panel below the chart.
What Level Count measures
The value is the number of distinct keys among the bar's tradable price levels, with zero-quantity levels excluded because a level that never traded was not touched. Zero is a measured outcome here, not a gap — a placeholder bar with no ticks genuinely touched zero levels, and the point is still emitted. Because the count can never be negative, the histogram uses a single colour on both channels. Compared with the bar's range, the difference exposes hollow bars: a wide range crossed on very few traded levels.
The formula, as implemented
This is not how the indicator is usually defined elsewhere — it is what the shipped code computes, documented next to the implementation:
Nombre de niveaux de prix TOUCHÉS dans la barre = nombre de clés distinctes parmi les niveaux exploitables (qty = 0 exclu : un niveau à volume nul n'a pas été traité). POURQUOI : mesure la DISPERSION de l'activité indépendamment du volume. Peu de niveaux + gros volume = enchère verrouillée (rotation) ; beaucoup de niveaux + volume comparable = le prix a balayé sans se faire absorber. Comparé au range (high − low), l'écart révèle les barres creuses. Convention : 0 est une VALEUR MESURÉE, pas une absence d'information — une barre placeholder sans aucun tick a bien touché zéro niveau, on émet le point. (Différent d'un rapport, où 0 au dénominateur interdit d'émettre.) Toujours ≥ 0 → une seule couleur sur les deux canaux de l'histogramme.
How to read it
- Few levels combined with heavy volume describes a locked auction — size changing hands in a narrow band, usually rotation around a level.
- Many levels with comparable volume describes a sweep: price travelled through the book without being absorbed anywhere in particular.
- Compare the count with the bar's range in ticks. A range much wider than the number of traded levels means the bar left untraded prices behind it.
- A count narrowing over consecutive bars after a move marks activity concentrating into a band; read it alongside the footprint rather than alone.
- Zero readings are real measurements — those bars traded nothing — so do not mistake them for missing data.
Parameters and defaults
Smoothing defaults to 1, so each bar's count is plotted exactly as measured; larger values up to 200 average the count and turn the pane into a dispersion baseline against which individual bars can be judged. Grey (#9e9e9e) is the default, and the same colour serves both histogram channels since the count cannot go negative.
| Parameter | Type | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoothing | number | 1 | 1 – 200 |
What it does not show
The count depends on tick size and on the price granularity of the feed: the same market sampled at a coarser increment yields fewer levels for identical activity, so values cannot be compared across instruments or across data sources. It says nothing about volume, direction or aggressor side — a forty-level bar may be one lot at each level. Time-based bars with no trades report zero, which is correct but will dominate the pane during quiet hours. A level touched by a single contract counts exactly as much as a level where hundreds traded.
Related indicators
- Volume — Volume
- Buy/Sell Volume — Volume
- Average Trade Size — Volume
- Volume ROC % — Volume
- Relative Volume — Volume
- Trade Count — Volume
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Frequently asked questions
- What does the number of traded price levels in a bar tell you?
- It tells you how widely the bar's activity was spread across prices, separately from how much traded. A low count with high volume points to an auction working a narrow band; a high count with similar volume points to price moving through the book without settling anywhere.
- Is a level count of zero the same as missing data?
- No. Zero means the bar genuinely touched no price level with a non-zero quantity — nothing traded during that interval. The indicator emits the point rather than a gap, because zero is a measurement here and not an absence of information.
- How is level count different from the bar's range?
- The range spans the highest and lowest prices reached, including prices where nothing traded. Level count only counts the prices that actually traded. Comparing the two reveals hollow bars: a wide range crossed on few traded levels means price passed through without transacting much on the way.