From delta to CVD
Every trade has a passive side (a limit order resting in the book) and an aggressive side (a market order that crosses the spread). The aggressive side is called the taker.
- Volume delta for a candle = taker buy volume − taker sell volume.
- Cumulative volume delta (CVD) = the running total of those deltas, candle after candle.
Rising CVD means market buyers have been more aggressive than market sellers over the window. Falling CVD means the opposite. Binance publishes taker buy volume for every perpetual, so a true CVD can be built from exchange data rather than guessed from candle colours.
Reading CVD with price
| Price | CVD | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Up | Up | Aggressive buying is driving the move. Healthy. |
| Up | Flat or down | Price is rising without aggressive buyers, often on passive orders or thin books. Rallies like this tend to stall. |
| Down | Down | Aggressive selling is driving the move. |
| Down | Flat or up | Sellers hit the market but price barely moves, or buyers keep lifting offers into the drop. Classic absorption. |
CVD divergences and absorption
The most useful CVD signals are divergences at swing points:
- Bullish: price makes a lower low, but CVD makes a higher low. Aggressive selling is drying up while price is still falling. Someone is absorbing the selling with limit orders.
- Bearish: price makes a higher high on a lower CVD high. The rally is running on thinning aggression.
Example (illustrative): a coin sweeps yesterday’s low by 1%, but CVD on the sweep candle is higher than at the previous low. Market sellers were less aggressive the second time, and limit buyers absorbed them. If price closes back above the old low, that is a reversal signal worth watching, and it pairs well with a liquidity sweep.
Futures CVD vs spot CVD
Futures CVD shows leveraged aggression. If price rises on strong futures CVD while spot buying is flat, the move is leverage-driven and more fragile. When both agree, the move has broader support. Note that CVD is exchange-specific: it only covers trades on the venue you are measuring.
Scanning for CVD setups
In CryptoScanX, CVD and CVD Divergence are scan conditions on Binance perpetuals (Delta Exchange does not publish aggressor volume):
Selling exhaustion
Oversold, with aggressive selling already fading.
Thin rally
A new high that market buyers are no longer pushing.
See the volume scanner for CVD, relative volume and volume-wall conditions.
Frequently asked questions
What does CVD mean in crypto?
Cumulative volume delta: the running total of taker buy volume minus taker sell volume. It shows whether market buyers or market sellers have been more aggressive.
Is CVD the same as on-balance volume?
No. On-balance volume adds or subtracts a candle’s whole volume based on whether it closed up or down. CVD uses the actual aggressive buy and sell volume inside the candle.
What is a CVD divergence?
When price and CVD disagree at a swing point, for example price making a lower low while CVD makes a higher low. It suggests aggressive selling is fading and being absorbed.
Crypto futures are leveraged and carry a high risk of loss. This guide is educational and is not investment advice.