Delivery volume in one sentence
Delivery volume is the quantity of shares reported for delivery after a trading session rather than treated as intraday quantity. It is commonly examined alongside total traded quantity and delivery percentage when researching activity in an NSE-listed stock.
Delivery data is end-of-day information. It does not update like a live price quote, and it does not tell you who bought or sold the shares. It is one description of how the day’s traded quantity was classified after the session.
The fields you will usually see
Four related values appear throughout Delivery Volume:
- Total traded quantity is the total number of shares traded during the session.
- Delivery quantity is the quantity reported as marked for delivery.
- Delivery percentage expresses delivery quantity as a percentage of total traded quantity.
- Calculated intraday quantity is the remainder after subtracting delivery quantity from total traded quantity.
The percentage formula is:
Delivery percentage = delivery quantity ÷ total traded quantity × 100
If a stock traded 1,000,000 shares and 420,000 were reported for delivery, its delivery percentage would be 42%. The calculated intraday quantity would be 580,000 shares.
These quantities are share counts. They are not counts of orders, accounts or people. One participant can place many orders, and one exchange trade can involve quantities that do not map neatly to one person on each side.
What a higher delivery percentage may indicate
A higher delivery percentage means a larger share of that day’s total traded quantity was reported for delivery. It may be associated with participants carrying shares beyond the session, but the number alone does not establish why the activity occurred.
The percentage can rise because delivery quantity increased, because total traded quantity decreased, or because both changed at different rates. That is why the percentage should be read together with the absolute quantities.
For example, a 70% delivery percentage on 100,000 total shares represents 70,000 delivery shares. A 40% delivery percentage on 10,000,000 shares represents 4,000,000 delivery shares. The lower percentage in the second example still accompanies far more delivery quantity.
What a lower delivery percentage may indicate
A lower percentage means a smaller portion of total traded quantity was reported for delivery. It can occur during sessions with substantial same-day activity, index adjustments, event-driven trading or ordinary changes in liquidity.
It does not automatically mean that a stock is weak, manipulated or dominated by a particular class of trader. The public figures do not identify participant motives, and price direction cannot be inferred reliably from a single percentage.
Why history matters
Delivery information becomes more useful when compared with the stock’s own history. Stocks differ greatly in liquidity, ownership, price and normal trading behaviour. A percentage that is unusual for one stock may be routine for another.
When reading a chart, compare several observations:
- Is total traded quantity above or below its recent range?
- Did delivery quantity change with total volume, or did the percentage move mainly because the denominator changed?
- Did price close higher or lower, and was the daily range unusually wide?
- Is the observation isolated, or does it continue across several sessions?
- Was there a corporate announcement, result, index change or other public event?
This contextual approach is more informative than setting one universal threshold for every company.
Delivery quantity is not buyer quantity
It is tempting to describe delivery volume as shares “bought for investment.” That wording is too strong. Every completed trade has both a buyer and seller, while the published delivery field does not reveal the beneficial owner, holding period or motivation behind either side.
Delivery quantity therefore should not be used to claim that institutions, promoters, retail investors or any other group accumulated or distributed shares unless separate evidence supports that conclusion.
Missing values and zero are different
Sometimes a source record does not contain a usable delivery quantity. In that situation, Delivery Volume shows the field as unavailable. It does not convert the missing value to zero because zero would make a specific claim that the source did not establish.
The calculated intraday quantity is also withheld when delivery quantity is missing. This prevents a missing delivery field from incorrectly making all total volume appear intraday.
A practical way to use the chart
Start with the Total view to understand the stock’s overall activity. Switch to Delivery to see the reported delivered portion. Then use Intraday to view the calculated remainder. Hover over a date to compare the exact quantities with the price candle and exchange trade count.
Treat unusual observations as questions to investigate, not conclusions. Check company announcements, market-wide conditions and the official source where the distinction matters. Delivery Volume is designed to make comparison easier; it is not designed to produce buy or sell signals.
For the exact validation and missing-data rules used on this site, read the methodology. For the origin and update timing of the files, see the data-source page.
Key takeaway
Delivery volume is a useful end-of-day market field when it is read with total quantity, price and historical context. Delivery percentage makes comparison easier, but percentages can hide large differences in absolute activity. Neither delivery quantity nor its percentage identifies traders or predicts the next price move on its own.