Volume

Volume is the total number of shares traded in a stock during a specific time period, usually a single trading day. You'll see it listed on every stock chart and news article, because it tells you how much buying and selling activity is actually happening. High volume means lots of investors are trading; low volume means few are. Why care? Volume helps confirm whether a price move is real or just noise. If a stock jumps 10% but almost nobody bought it, that jump might not stick around. For example, if TechCorp stock rises 5% on 50 million shares traded versus rising 5% on just 100,000 shares, the first move is usually more meaningful and trustworthy.