Price Volume Dynamics Navigator
Price Volume Dynamics Navigator
thinkorswim Study
Price Volume Dynamics Navigator (PVDN)
Standard volume tells you how much traded. PVDN tells you what that volume did: who was in control, how hard they pushed, and whether there was enough volume behind the move to trust it.
Overview
PVDN is a lower-panel volume study for thinkorswim. It splits every bar into buying and selling, measures how far and how efficiently price moved for the volume spent, and combines it into a Volume Score from −100 to +100. Each bar then gets a Volume Rating from Strong Sell to Strong Buy that colors both the volume histogram and the price candles.
The difference is that every rating has to be earned twice: by the score and by the volume. A clean-looking candle on thin volume can’t pass itself off as a Strong signal, and balanced bars with no clear winner fade to grey. What’s left on your chart are the bars where one side genuinely took control, and those are the ones worth acting on.
7-Tier Volume Rating
Strong Buy
Strong score on 100%+ volume. Buyers in full control. The strongest buy rating, with the highest conviction.
Normal Buy
Clear buying backed by at least 75% of average volume.
Lean Buy
Mild buying on at least half of average volume.
Neutral
No clear winner, or too little volume to trust. Wait for a stronger rating before entering.
Lean Sell
Mild selling on at least half of average volume.
Normal Sell
Clear selling backed by at least 75% of average volume.
Strong Sell
Strong score on 100%+ volume. Sellers in full control. The strongest sell rating, with the highest conviction.
Features
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Volume Score (−100 to +100)
Four measures in one number: buy/sell pressure, speed in ATR, efficiency (price moved per unit of volume) and volume conviction, boosted when one side clearly won the bar.
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Rating Ladder with volume floors
Every rating needs both a minimum score and a minimum volume. A big candle on thin volume is downgraded instead of passing as a Strong signal.
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Winning-side filter
Bars where neither buyers nor sellers reached a clear majority (60/40 by default) paint grey, so balanced chop drops out of view.
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Separate buy and sell paint thresholds
Filter each side to the strength you trust, such as Strong-only buys with Normal-and-up sells for indexes that grind up and sell off fast.
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Colored histogram and price candles
One rule colors both the volume bars and the candles, so you can read volume conviction straight off the price chart.
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Trigger arrows and 2 alerts
Magenta and yellow arrows at the rating you choose, with Trigger Buy and Trigger Sell alerts that fire once at the start of each run.
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Extreme bubble
A gold marker for the rare bar that is Strong, on 150%+ volume and at least 1.5× ATR wide. Scales across symbols and timeframes.
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Live label row
Volume Rating, Volume Score, Volume Average (Low to Very High) and optional Buy % / Sell %, each toggled on or off independently.
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Data Box readouts
Hover over any closed bar to see its volume %, buy/sell split, Volume Score and Volume Rating (−3 to +3).
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No repainting, 19 tunable inputs
Closed bars never change. Defaults work out of the box, and every floor, filter and display option can be adjusted.
Built for
Index and futures day traders
Confirm /ES or SPY entries with real volume behind the move before committing.
Breakout traders
Separate breakouts with participation from the thin-volume breaks that fail.
Trend traders
Rejoin trends after a quiet pullback when a Strong bar shows the trend side is back in control.
Swing traders
Spot climactic volume, absorption and fading conviction on hourly and daily charts.
What you get
PVDN Chart Study source code — full thinkScript source code of the PVDN Chart Study plus a TOS Shared Item URL for ease of installation.
PVDN Chart Study User Guide (PDF) — a complete user guide that provides a step-by-step explanations, worked examples, a rating decision matrix, use-case scenarios, and tuning tips.
Free updates & support — including all minor enhancements and fixes.*
One-time purchase — no subscription, no recurring fees. Ever.
PVDN (Price Volume Dynamics Navigator) is a custom thinkScript study for use on the thinkorswim® platform by Charles Schwab. TraderStoa is not affiliated with Charles Schwab in any way. We are not responsible for any damages or losses incurred from using this study in your trading. Use at your own risk.
* Minor fixes and enhancements will be announced on the site and by email. Major changes that result in a complete new functionality and major changes to the study are not included; they can be purchased separately.
This is a digital software product — all sales are final, no refunds after download.
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