What it does
Session Volume Profile is an orderflow tool that displays, for each trading session, a horizontal histogram of how much volume traded at each price level. From this per-session distribution it derives the Point of Control (POC), the single price with the most traded volume, and the Value Area, the price band (typically around 70 percent of the session's volume) centered on the heaviest trading. The profile shows where the market found acceptance and where it was rejected within the day.
How to add it
Click Indicators (ƒx) in the header.
Search “Session Volume Profile” and click the result.
Hover its legend row and click the gear to open settings.
How traders use it
- The session POC and value area edges (VAH and VAL) act as intraday support and resistance; price often rotates back to the POC after failed pushes away from it.
- Opening outside the prior session's value area and holding there signals imbalance and potential trend day; opening inside value favors rotation between VAH and VAL.
- Thin, low-volume zones in the profile are areas of rejection that price tends to traverse quickly, useful for targets and stop placement.
- Prior-session POCs, especially untested (naked) ones, act as magnets and reaction levels on later sessions.
- Profile shape matters: a balanced bell shape suggests rotation strategies, while a double-distribution or thin elongated profile indicates trending, imbalanced conditions.
Inputs
| Input | Type | Default | Range / Options |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions | select | all | All / Regular / Custom |
| Custom Session Start | string | 09:30 | — |
| Custom Session End | string | 16:00 | — |
| Volume | select | up_down | Up/Down / Total / Delta |
| Value Area Volume | number | 70 | 10–100 |
| Rows Layout | select | number | Number Of Rows / Ticks Per Row |
| Row Size | number | 24 | 4–200 |
| Extend POC Right | boolean | Off | — |
| Extend VAH Right | boolean | Off | — |
| Extend VAL Right | boolean | Off | — |
| Volume Profile | boolean | On | — |
| Values | boolean | On | — |
| Width (% of the box) | number | 30 | 5–90 |
| Placement | select | left | Left / Right |
| Histogram Box | boolean | On | — |
Plots & styling
| Plot | Style | Default color |
|---|---|---|
| POC | level | #ff5252 |
| VAH | level | #787b86 |
| VAL | level | #787b86 |
| Developing POC | line | #05B878 |
| Developing VAH | line | #26c6da |
| Developing VAL | line | #26c6da |
Every plot's color, line width and visibility can be changed on the Style tab. Precision, price-scale labels and status-line values are configurable at the bottom of the Style tab.
Tips
- Use Add to favorites in the legend menu; starred studies surface at the top of the picker.
- The legend eye toggles it off without losing your settings — handy for before/after comparisons.
- Its price-scale label can be switched off per-indicator at the bottom of the Style tab if the axis gets crowded.
Watch out for
- It requires granular intraday volume-at-price data; profiles built from coarse bars or unreliable volume feeds misplace the POC and value area.
- Levels are descriptive, not mechanical: POCs and value edges shift as the session builds, and in strong trend sessions mean-reversion plays around them fail repeatedly.