Futures exchanges do not transmit information on the number of contracts involved in any one trade. Tick volume on futures charts therefore simply counts the number of price changes during the period. Many trades may occur at a given price, but no tick occurs until the price changes, no matter the number of contracts traded. Tick volume behaves quite similarly to actual trading volume because when the price is not changing the market is, in most cases, inactive. Little trading is taking place. When trading volume is high, the range is usually large and tick volume is therefore correspondingly large.Tick Volume on Futures Charts