GlossaryVolume Profile (VPVR)
Volume Profile (VPVR)
The Volume Profile (VPVR, Visible Range) shows the traded volume per price level for the visible area of the chart, as horizontal bars at the edge. This lets you see at which prices the market traded heavily and found value, and which it passed through quickly. If you pan or zoom, it recalculates.
How to read it
- High-volume zones (long bars) are prices the market has agreed on. The price often slows down at these levels because many positions were opened there.
- Low-volume zones (gaps in the profile) are areas the market passed through quickly. The price often runs back into them just as fast.
- The POC often acts like a magnet, VAH and VAL like the edges of a range: if the price leaves the Value Area and comes back, it often runs to the opposite edge.
Limitations
- The profile depends on the visible section. After you pan, the POC can sit at a different level.
- The approximation assumes that a candle's volume gathers around the middle of its body. With long candles with wicks, this can differ noticeably from the real profile.
- For a profile over a freely chosen period, there are the Fixed range volume profile and Anchored volume profile drawing tools, which calculate the same way.