Video lesson · ChartSession Volume Profile: how to read POC, VAH and VAL
POC, VAH and VAL by session — volume profile for each day or week. The lesson takes 2:26; its full text is below the video.
Narrated in Russian. English subtitles are on by default.
Session Volume Profile in short
What does Session Volume Profile show?
For each session, a day or a week, a volume-by-price histogram is drawn with market buys and sells shown separately. The amber line is the POC, the price with the most volume. The dashed VAH and VAL lines bound the value area, where the bulk of the volume traded.
How to read Session Volume Profile?
- The POC is the price that traded the most during the session.
- The zone between VAH and VAL is the session's fair-value area.
- Thin spots in the profile are prices the market moved through quickly.
How to use Session Volume Profile?
- Price leaving the value area and holding outside it shows the market accepting new prices.
- The previous session's POC is a notable level for the next one.
- A buy or sell skew in the profile hints at who controlled the session.
What do you often see on Session Volume Profile?
- The previous session's POC is often where price pauses in the next session.
- Thin parts of the profile tend to be crossed quickly on a revisit; thick parts slow price down.
- A move back inside the value area after a breakout often carries price to the opposite edge.
- The profile describes past trading: it does not tell you which way the range will break.
Where can I find Session Volume Profile?
In the Liqwall terminal: the Indicators button, the Chart section, Session Volume Profile. The “Open in the terminal” button on this page opens the chart with it already added.
Lesson text
0:00What Session Volume Profile is
A candle shows where the price was. A profile shows where the money was. Session Volume Profile builds, for every day or week, a histogram of volume by price. And you can see right away where the market really traded.
0:15How to add Session Volume Profile to the chart
Open the indicator list, go to the Chart section and select Session Volume Profile. The indicator draws right on the price chart. Every session gets its own histogram.
0:27How to read Session Volume Profile
The daily session matches the daily candle and starts at 3 a.m. Moscow time. The amber line is the POC. The price where the most was traded during the session.
The dashed lines are VAH and VAL. The top and the bottom of the value area. This is where most of the day's trading took place. Every row is split into two parts.
Green is market buys. Red is market sells. Short rows and gaps are prices the market passed through quickly.
0:59Session Volume Profile settings
In the settings, the key ones are Session — a day or a week — and Volume. Trades by price builds the profile from trades and gives the most detailed levels. Candles builds it from candles. Rows sets the number of rows. Value area is the share of volume included in the value area.
1:20An example on a real chart
Let's look at a real example. On October 10 the POC settled near 83 thousand dollars. On October 11 the day opened right at that price. For 15 hours the price moved around yesterday's POC, between 82,800 and 83,200 dollars. At 6 p.m. the market picked a side. A single hourly candle pushed the price above the VAH boundary to 83,900, and by 8 p.m. to 84,200.
1:55What to pair Session Volume Profile with
Session Volume Profile works well together with TPO, where time and volume coincide. The level is more reliable. With Key Levels you can see when the POC sits next to the high or the low of the previous day. And Liquidity Map from the Order Book section will show whether there is a large order in the book at this price.
2:15The takeaway
Look at where the market traded, not just where it drew a candle. Session Volume Profile is in the Liqwall terminal, in the Chart section.
Add the indicator to the chart and look at it on your own coin.Free account — no card needed.