Signals

Volume SMA

Compare current volume against its rolling baseline.

What it is

Volume SMA smooths raw volume with a rolling average so you can compare today's activity against a recent baseline instead of a noisy single bar.

When to use it

Spotting unusual participation on earnings, breakouts, or reversals.
Creating rules like "volume is above its 20-day average."
Summarizing volume regimes in dashboard cards or alerts.

The maths

VolSMA(N) = (vol[t] + vol[t-1] + ... + vol[t-N+1]) / N

What it tells you

Volume significantly above the VolSMA signals unusual participation. Many systems use it as a filter and only take signals when volume exceeds 1.5× its 20-day average.

REST example

python

import os
import requests

response = requests.get(
  'https://api.financedata.com/v1/signals/VolumeSMA/AAPL',
  params={'start_date': '2025-01-01', 'end_date': '2025-04-30', 'period': 20},
  headers={'X-API-Key': os.environ['FDA_KEY']},
  timeout=30,
)
response.raise_for_status()
print(response.json())

MCP example

Tool call body

{
"name": "run_signals",
"arguments": {
  "symbols": ["AAPL"],
  "signal_names": ["Volume SMA"],
  "start_date": "2025-01-01",
  "end_date": "2025-04-30",
  "signal_parameters": {
    "Volume SMA": {
      "period": 20
    }
  }
}
}

FinanceDataAPI does not currently expose a dedicated get_volume_sma MCP tool, so the batch run_signals tool is the supported MCP path for this signal.

Agent prompt that triggers it

Run the Volume SMA signal for AAPL and tell me whether current trading activity is above or below its 20-day average.