Absolute volume is misleading without context. A stock trading 2 million shares means very different things for a mega-cap versus a small-cap with a tiny float. Relative Volume (RVOL) normalizes today's activity against the stock's own recent average, while float turnover measures how much of the tradeable supply actually changed hands.

RVOL = Today's Volume ÷ Average Volume over N periods (commonly 20 or 50 days). Float turnover = Today's Volume ÷ Free Float. High turnover signals conviction because the entire available supply is being recycled — often the fingerprint of institutional accumulation or distribution.

RVOL > 2.0 on a breakout: strong participation, higher follow-through odds
RVOL < 0.7 on a breakout: suspect, often a liquidity vacuum
Turnover > 100% in a day: extreme, watch for exhaustion or short squeeze
Low-float stocks (< 20M shares) can gap violently on modest dollar volume

Metric	Formula	Interpretation
RVOL	Today Vol / 20-day Avg Vol	>2 = conviction
Float Turnover	Today Vol / Free Float	>100% = extreme
Dollar Volume	Price × Volume	Liquidity filter