What this course is, and what it is not
Volume spread analysis, VSA for short, reads three things on every bar: the spread (the range from high to low), where the bar closed inside that range, and the volume compared with the bars around it. Put together, those three answer one question: did the effort on this bar produce a result, and if not, who absorbed it?
It is not a signal service and it is not an indicator. There is nothing to bolt onto the chart. It is a way of reading, and like any reading skill it takes vocabulary first and practice second. That is why this course is in eleven parts rather than one long article: each part teaches a small number of ideas with drawn examples, then hands you to the next.
Two honest warnings before you start. First, the volume on a spot gold chart is tick volume, a count of price updates, not contracts traded. Part 9 deals with what that does and does not change. Second, VSA on its own does not carry a measurable directional edge on gold; we tested that on years of data and wrote it up in participation is not direction. What it does carry is context: it tells you when a move is thin, when a break was absorbed, and when a dip found no sellers. Used that way, alongside structure, it earns its place.
How the course is organised
The order matters. Do not skip to signs of strength because that is where the trades live; without the background chapter you will read every high volume bar as a climax and get run over.
- Part 1, What VSA is: where the method comes from, the three laws, and the one comparison everything rests on
- Part 2, Reading one bar: spread, close position and relative volume, with four bars that say four different things
- Part 3, Background and context: why the same bar is bullish in one phase and meaningless in another
- Part 4, Signs of strength: selling climax, stopping volume, shakeout: strength shows up on down bars
- Part 5, Tests and no supply: the low volume test, the no supply bar, and how a failed test looks
- Part 6, Signs of weakness: buying climax, upthrust, no demand: weakness shows up on up bars
- Part 7, Spread and close: reading the result side properly, and the four spread and volume combinations
- Part 8, Accumulation and distribution: the full cycle drawn out, with every VSA event placed where it belongs
- Part 9, VSA on spot gold: tick volume, session baselines, news bars and what our own measurement found
- Part 10, The trade plan: background, event, test, entry, stop and target, drawn for a long and a short
- Part 11, Mistakes and checklist: the errors that cost the most, and a checklist to run before every trade
Who this is for
Traders who already read structure on gold and want to know whether a level is being defended or abandoned before price tells them. If you use supply and demand zones, order blocks or liquidity sweeps, VSA is the layer that says whether the return to the zone came with sellers or without them.
It is not for anyone hoping for an entry arrow. There are no arrows here, only bars and the questions to ask of them.
The drawings
Every example in this course is a drawn sequence: candles on top, volume bars underneath, a dashed line for the average volume of the sequence, and the bars that matter outlined in amber. They are constructed to be clean; real gold charts are messier. The point of a clean drawing is that you learn the shape once and then recognise it under noise, which is exactly how the method was taught long before screens existed.
How to use it alongside the live chart
Read a part, then open the live chart on M15 or H1, switch the volume pane on, and find one example of what you just read. One. Not ten. When you can find the bar without looking for it, move to the next part. The whole course takes an evening to read and a few weeks to absorb, and the second number is the one that matters.
FAQ
Do I need real volume for VSA to work on gold?
No, but you need to know what you have. Spot gold shows tick volume, a count of price updates rather than contracts. It tracks activity well enough for relative comparisons, which is all VSA needs. It cannot tell you who was buying, which is why the method reads spread and close alongside it. Part 9 covers this in detail.
Is VSA the same as Wyckoff?
VSA grew out of Wyckoff. Wyckoff described the phases and the events; VSA sharpened the bar by bar reading of volume against spread and close. Part 8 uses the Wyckoff schematic and places every VSA event inside it.
Does VSA give buy and sell signals?
It gives context and confirmation, not signals. A test on low volume after a selling climax is a condition, and the trade plan in part 10 shows how that condition becomes an entry with a stop and a target. On its own, volume has no directional edge on gold; combined with structure it tells you which side is absent.
Which timeframe should I use?
Start on H1 for the background and M15 for the events. M1 tick volume on gold is too noisy for the method; M5 is workable during London and New York only. The sessions chapter explains why the baseline moves through the day.
How long does it take to learn?
The vocabulary takes an evening. Recognising the events on a live chart without hunting for them takes a few weeks of looking. Trading them well takes longer than that, which is true of everything worth doing.
ⓘ See these ideas on real price: open the free XAUUSD live chart.