Volume Profile
Volume profile is a charting tool that displays the total volume traded at each price level over a specified period, plotted horizontally as a histogram. It reveals where the market spent the most and least time transacting, identifying high-value zones, support, resistance, and areas of thin liquidity.
Volume profile is a statistical distribution of trading volume across price levels over a defined time period. Instead of plotting volume as a vertical bar below each time candle (like traditional volume), it plots volume horizontally: creating a histogram that shows how much activity occurred at each price.
Volume profile anatomy
Price Volume bar (horizontal)
5,255 ██
5,254 ███
5,253 ██████████ ← High Volume Node (HVN)
5,252 ████████
5,251 █████████ ← Point of Control (POC): most traded price
5,250 ████████
5,249 ██████
5,248 ██ ← Low Volume Node (LVN)
5,247 █
5,246 ███████████ ← HVN (prior session value)Key components
Point of Control (POC): the price with the highest traded volume. Represents the fairest price over the period: where the most two-sided business was done.
Value Area: the price range containing 70% of the period’s volume. Prices within the value area represent fair value for that session.
High Volume Nodes (HVN): areas of heavy volume that act as price magnets and support/resistance.
Low Volume Nodes (LVN): thin areas where little business was done. Price tends to move quickly through LVNs.
Types of volume profile
| Type | Period covered |
|---|---|
| Session profile | Single RTH session |
| Weekly profile | Full trading week |
| Composite profile | Custom range (e.g. last 20 sessions) |
| Visible range profile | Whatever is visible on the current chart |
| Fixed range profile | User-defined start and end point |
Volume profile vs market profile
Volume profile measures actual traded volume at each price. Market profile measures time spent at each price (TPO letters). Both identify value areas and POCs, but volume profile is considered more accurate for modern electronic markets where time-at-price and volume-at-price can diverge significantly.