It's a number that tells you how much trading activity a stock is getting today. A value of 0 is normal. +300 is really high. -50 is really low.

Because you probably don't have a lot of extra time to decide which stocks to check out each day. Stocks with a high volume buzz are a great place to start. It's not the Holy Grail, but it's a quick and easy way to make sure you don't miss something big.

Any time, it doesn't matter. Five minutes after the market opens, the middle of the day or right before the close. When you sort by volume buzz, the day's buzzing stocks rise to the top of your list so you can spacebar through them in less than a minute. You'll be so informed that you'll feel smarter and walk taller. Kidding aside, you can gain a lot of knowledge in a couple minutes per day. Volume buzz gives big bang for the buck.

You already know the volume is unusually high. Play detective and see if you can figure out why. Look for clues in the news stories in the bottom left. Look for price breakouts or breakdowns on the chart. Look for significant technical patterns that might cause a bunch of traders to react (something like a moving average crossover, support or resistance violation, a popular candle pattern, etc.) Ultimately, try to decide if you think the high-activity level is a flash-in-the-pan or the beginning of something you can play. Don't over analyze and try to force something that's not there. Trust your gut - it's smarter than you think.

Click the Add Column button in the top right corner of the WatchList window. Click Add Column and select Today's Volume Buzz from the list and click OK. Then click the column header to sort and bring the buzzers to the top - click again to see the stragglers.

Funny you should ask. We were just getting ready to give you one. When you look at a WatchList with the buzzing stocks on top, pay attention to how many of the stocks are big gainers or losers for the day. You'll learn a lot about the overall strength of the market day. Watch for sudden changes in behavior of the buzz group as a whole. When these stocks start swinging all at once, the rest of the market might be coming along for the ride.

We want to say "dumb question", but we won't. That's a great question. The answer is "they couldn't be more different." Here's why. A most active stock might have the highest trading volume for the day, but it might have high volume EVERY day. That makes it liquid, not necessarily interesting. A buzzing stock might be lightly traded, but experiencing a significant increase in activity. This makes it small, but interesting. It's worth your time to investigate because something important might be happening. When a small company gem pops up, you want to be one of the first to catch it. That's why volume buzz updates every second throughout the trading day.

You are officially released from class. You do not have to read this explanation. It doesn't matter how it's calculated, just pay attention when a stock has a big number and do your detective work. However, we know that you math whizzes need to know. A stock's volume for the current day (let's say at 11:32am) is compared to its average historical volume for the same percentage of the day. The volume buzz tells you how far ahead or behind the stock is based on its normal historical activity. A volume buzz of +250% means the stock is trading 250% more than normal for this portion of the day. A figure of -50% means the stock is trading at only half of its norm for this portion of the day. A figure of 0 means nothing unusual is going on in either direction. Hope that's not too confusing, but you asked.

Now go observe volume buzz for a week and show off your new-found knowledge at the office.