What it shows
Session volume profile keeps the normal price bars and adds, for each trading session, a horizontal histogram showing how much volume traded at each price level during that session. The longest row is the session's point of control (POC), the price where the most volume changed hands, and a shaded value area marks the price band containing a set share of the session's volume, typically 70 percent. It turns each session into a map of where business was actually done.
How it's built
For every session, volume is bucketed into horizontal price rows (a configurable number of rows or a fixed tick height per row) and drawn as bars extending sideways from the session's start. Rows can show total volume or be split into up and down volume; the profile is anchored to session boundaries while the underlying chart remains time-based.
Switch to it
Open the chart-type menu in the header (next to the interval buttons) and pick Session volume profile — or pin it as a favourite for one-click switching.
When to use it
- Locating high-volume nodes and session POCs as magnets and support/resistance for intraday trading
- Fading or targeting moves into low-volume nodes where price tends to travel quickly
- Judging acceptance versus rejection: price holding inside the value area versus escaping it
- Planning next-session trades around prior value area high, low and POC
Settings reference
Open Chart Settings (gear, or double-click the chart background) with this type active. Every setting, its possible values and what it changes:
| Setting | Control | Possible values | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Volume profile] Values | checkbox+color | on/off; any color | off; #808080 | Prints the traded volume number next to each histogram row in the chosen color. Off leaves bars only. |
| [Volume profile] Width | number | 5 to 100 %, step 1 | 100 % | How far the widest histogram row stretches across the session box. Lower values shrink the profile so more of the underlying price action stays visible. |
| [Volume profile] Placement | select | Left, Right | Left | Anchors the histogram to the left or right edge of each session, so the bars grow from that side. |
| [Volume profile] Up volume | color | any color | #a9dde0 | Color of the up-volume part of rows outside the value area (visible in Up/Down volume mode). |
| [Volume profile] Down volume | color | any color | #f3c0d2 | Color of the down-volume part of rows outside the value area. |
| [Volume profile] Value area up | color | any color | #22c1cc | Color of up volume for rows inside the value area; the saturated default makes the value area pop against the paler outside rows. |
| [Volume profile] Value area down | color | any color | #e34a8a | Color of down volume for rows inside the value area. |
| [Volume profile] Histogram box | color | any color | #b2ebf2 | Tint of the translucent box drawn behind each session's profile, visually separating one session from the next. |
| [Lines] VAH | checkbox+color+line-style | on/off; any color; Solid/Dashed/Dotted | off; #808080; Dashed | Draws a horizontal line at the Value Area High of each session — the top of the price band holding the value-area percentage of volume. |
| [Lines] Extend right (VAH) | checkbox | on/off | off | Extends each session's VAH line to the right across later sessions, so old value-area tops remain visible as reference levels. |
| [Lines] VAL | checkbox+color+line-style | on/off; any color; Solid/Dashed/Dotted | off; #808080; Dashed | Draws a horizontal line at the Value Area Low of each session. |
| [Lines] Extend right (VAL) | checkbox | on/off | off | Extends each session's VAL line rightward across later sessions. |
| [Lines] POC | checkbox+color+line-style | on/off; any color; Solid/Dashed/Dotted | on; theme text color; Solid | Draws the Point of Control — the price row with the most traded volume in the session — as a horizontal line, the profile's key magnet level. |
| [Lines] Extend right (POC) | checkbox | on/off | off | Extends each session's POC line to the right, keeping prior POCs on screen as support/resistance references. |
| [Lines] Developing POC | checkbox+color+line-style | on/off; any color; Solid/Dashed/Dotted | off; #808080; Solid | Plots how the POC migrated bar by bar while the session was building, instead of only the final level. |
| [Lines] Developing VA | checkbox+color+line-style | on/off; any color; Solid/Dashed/Dotted | off; #a9dde0; Solid | Plots the evolving Value Area High/Low as the session developed, showing how value expanded or shifted intraday. |
| [Inputs] Sessions | select | All, Each, Pre-market only, Market only, Post-market only, Custom | All | Which trading window each profile covers: All builds one profile per day (pre, market and post together); Each splits the day into separate pre/market/post profiles; the -only modes profile just that part; Custom uses your own time windows. |
| [Inputs] Custom sessions | text | comma-separated HH:MM-HH:MM windows, up to five (shown only when Sessions = Custom) | empty | Defines your own session windows (e.g. 09:15-11:30, 11:30-15:30) in the chart timezone; a separate profile is built for each window per day. |
| [Inputs] Volume | select | Total, Up/Down, Delta | Up/Down | How each row's volume is rendered: Total shows one combined bar, Up/Down splits the bar into buying and selling portions, Delta shows the net difference between them. |
| [Inputs] Value area volume | number | 10 to 100, step 1 | 70 | Percent of the session's volume the value area must contain. Larger values widen the value area band around the POC. |
| [Inputs] Rows layout | select | Number of rows, Ticks per row | Number of rows | How the profile's vertical resolution is set: a fixed count of rows spread over the session's range, or rows sized as a fixed number of price ticks. The Row size field below follows the chosen meaning. |
| [Inputs] Row size (Number of rows layout) | number | 4 to 200, step 1 | 24 | Total number of rows each session's range is divided into. More rows show finer volume-by-price structure; fewer rows give chunkier, easier-to-read bars. |
| [Inputs] Row size (Ticks per row layout) | number | 1 to 10000, step 1 | 10 | Height of each row in price ticks. Fewer ticks per row means finer resolution and more rows; more ticks per row merges levels into thicker bars. |
| [Precision] Precision | select | Default, 0 (1), 1 (1.1), 2 (1.01), 3 (1.001), 4 (1.0001), 5 (1.00001), 6 (1.000001), 7 (1.0000001), 8 (1.00000001) | Default | Number of decimal places used for prices on the scale and labels. Default follows the symbol's own tick precision. |
Watch out for
- Profiles need accurate per-trade or intraday volume and correct session definitions; wrong session times or missing volume make POC and value area unreliable