# Candle Delta

> Each candle's buy-minus-sell volume printed under the bar with its total, plus a marker on candles whose delta disagrees with their direction.

Candle Delta prints **what each bar's aggressive buyers and sellers actually did**: the buy volume minus the sell volume, right under the candle, with the bar's total volume beside it. It's the same trade-side data [CVD](https://www.skylit.ai/docs/atlas/indicators/cvd) adds up, read one bar at a time instead of as a running total.

The most useful part is the **divergence marker**. A small amber triangle above a candle means its delta disagrees with its direction: it closed up on net selling, or down on net buying. A flat close with heavy one-sided pressure counts too, since that's absorption. On NQ, a green candle into a high with a negative delta under it is the kind of bar worth a second look.

![Candle Delta on NQ 5m: each bar's delta and total volume under it, with amber divergence triangles over bars that closed against their delta](https://www.skylit.ai/docs/images/atlas/indicators/candle-delta.light.webp)

*NQ 5m, Oct 16, 2026 · Atlas*

## Adding the indicator

Open the chart settings panel and use the **Add** button in the Indicators section. Candle Delta sits in the **Overlay** group, just after the VWAPs. One instance per chart pane.

## Settings

| Setting | Options | What it controls |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Delta | Up colour, down colour | The colours for positive and negative delta. Teal and red by default. |
| Total volume | **On** (default), Off | Prints the bar's total volume alongside its delta. |
| Divergence | **On** (default), Off, plus a colour | Marks candles whose delta contradicts their direction. Amber by default. |

## Reading notes

- **Numbers need room.** The labels appear as you zoom in far enough for them to fit. The divergence markers stay visible at any zoom.
- **Only known trade sides count.** Volume whose side can't be read is left out of the delta rather than guessed.
- **On stocks and ETFs the volume is a sample of the full tape,** so read the sizes as relative, bar against bar, not as absolute share counts. Futures read their own full tape.
- **SPXW uses ES futures delta** from regular hours, since the index itself doesn't trade. VIX has no volume source, so nothing draws there.