Impulses and volume surges: spotting a move as it starts
An impulse is a sharp price move over a minute or five; a volume surge is how many times more active the last five minutes were than usual. Together they show where money is arriving right now.
Daily change tells you what already happened. Impulses and volume surges answer a different question: where something is happening right now, while the move is still going.
Impulses
We flag a coin when price travelled more than 3% in a minute or 6% over five minutes. Currencies, metals and commodities have their own thresholds — 0.3% and 0.6%: the crypto yardstick would never trigger on EURUSD, whose entire daily travel is around 0.4%.
- The impulse feed sits next to the table and updates in real time.
- An impulse is a fact, not a forecast: it says the move started, it does not promise continuation.
- Impulses come from all nine exchanges, not one: a coin absent from the major venues still reaches the feed.
Volume surge
The ratio of the last five minutes' volume to what is normal for that coin. A three means trading is three times above its own norm. That is fairer than absolute volume: a million dollars is an event for a small coin and nothing for bitcoin.
Reading them together
- An impulse with a high volume surge — the move is funded, someone stepped in.
- An impulse without volume — often a spike on a thin book that retraces just as fast.
- A volume surge without price movement — position building: someone is buying without moving price. That is frequently more interesting than the impulse itself.
Impulses right now
| Coin | Value | Details |
|---|---|---|
| UB | +3.1% | 1m |
| PONS | +3.9% | 1m |
| HEI | +3.0% | 1m |
| OL | +3.1% | 1m |
| EPIC | -3.3% | 1m |
| UB | -3.1% | 1m |
| UB | +3.0% | 1m |
| SBP | +8.0% | 5m |
Sharp moves across nine exchanges over the last few minutes. Thresholds: 3% per minute for crypto, 0.3% for currencies and commodities.
Frequently asked questions
Is an impulse an entry signal?
No. It marks that price moved sharply. Half of all impulses retrace within an hour — what to do with that information is the trader's decision.
Why are the thresholds lower for currencies?
Because currency pairs travel an order of magnitude less than crypto. With a 3%-per-minute crypto threshold the forex feed would always be empty.
Can I get impulses in Telegram?
Yes, it is a separate subscription in the bot settings — you receive the coin, the percentage and the window.