Well VERY is the answer. You can see how how recent spikes in volume on the GBPJPY daily chart have preceeded some signifcant moves.
Remember the spike usually occurs on a bar opposite to the direction of the subsequent move - this is to be expected as large funds etc buy on downbars and sell on upbars.
If you use this for nothing else other than getting a general bias for direction, it can signifcantly stack the odds in your favour in certain markets especially when a short- or longer-term trend change is imminent.