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 report, 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 a fluke. If a stock jumps 10% but barely anyone 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 2 million shares, the first move is usually more trustworthy because more people agreed it was worth buying.