Volume Profile Indicator: POC, Value Area and Nodes
A volume profile shows how much trading happened at each price over a chosen period, drawn as horizontal bars beside the chart. The longest bar is the point of control, the price with the most volume. The value area is the range that holds a set share of all volume, usually 70%, between its high and its low.
What a Volume Profile Shows
Ordinary volume bars sit under the chart and tell you when trading happened. A volume profile turns that sideways and tells you where. It adds up all the volume traded at each price over the period you choose and draws it as a horizontal bar beside the chart. It is one of the volume tools in our TradingView indicators guide.
TradingView defines the parts like this (TradingView). The point of control (POC) is the price with the highest traded volume. The value area is the range where a set share of all volume traded, typically 70%. Its top is the value area high (VAH) and its bottom is the value area low (VAL). High volume nodes are peaks in the profile, and low volume nodes are the valleys where volume dropped off.
An illustration built from the ten rows in the worked example below.
Find the POC and Value Area by Hand
Here is a profile with ten rows, each a $500 block of price, and the Bitcoin volume traded in each. The total is 820 BTC, so a 70% value area needs about 574 BTC.
Step 1. The point of control is the biggest row: $80,000, with 200 BTC.
Step 2. Grow outward from the POC, adding the bigger neighboring row each time: $79,500 (150), then $80,500 (120), then $79,000 (90). That reaches 560 BTC, still short of 574.
Step 3. The next neighbors are $81,000 (70) and $78,500 (60). Add the bigger one, $81,000, and the total is 630 BTC, past the target.
So the value area runs from $79,000 to $81,000, holding 630 of 820 BTC, about 77%. It lands a little over 70% because each row is a whole $500 block. Charting software does this for you, and the exact method can differ a little from one platform to another.
| Price Row | Volume (BTC) | Role |
|---|---|---|
| $82,000 | 20 | |
| $81,500 | 40 | |
| $81,000 | 70 | In the value area |
| $80,500 | 120 | In the value area |
| $80,000 | 200 | Point of control |
| $79,500 | 150 | In the value area |
| $79,000 | 90 | In the value area |
| $78,500 | 60 | |
| $78,000 | 40 | |
| $77,500 | 30 |
How Traders Use the Profile
High Volume Nodes Slow Price Down
Lots of trading at a price means lots of traders with positions there. When price returns, many of them act again, so high volume nodes often behave like support and resistance, and price tends to chop around them.
Low Volume Nodes Get Crossed Fast
Prices with little trading had little interest. Price often moves through them quickly, which makes a low volume node a poor place for a stop and a reasonable place to expect a fast move.
The Value Area Frames the Range
The VAH and VAL work as the edges of where the market accepted price. A move outside the value area that holds can start a new range. A move outside that fails often rotates back toward the POC.
Plan the Trade, Then Size It
In the example, the POC at $80,000 and the VAL at $79,000 both sit right where our worked long enters. That stacks two reasons on one level. The stop still goes below the whole area, at $76,800, and the position size calculator turns that into 0.03050 BTC on a $10,000 account risking 1%.
Members of Data's Alpha Circle can compare their own profile with the levels on each call, and ask DataBot for a chart with the key levels marked. The results page shows how every call actually played out, and the intermediate traders guide follows the same trade through its partial profits.
Volume Profile Types on TradingView
TradingView offers several versions (TradingView). They differ in which candles go into the profile.
| Type | Which Candles It Uses | Good For |
|---|---|---|
| Visible range volume profile | Whatever is on your screen right now | A quick read of the levels in view |
| Fixed range volume profile | The start and end points you draw | One move, one range or one swing |
| Session volume profile | Each trading session, one profile per session | Intraday levels, day by day |
| Auto anchored volume profile | From a bar TradingView picks, the highest high, lowest low or highest volume in a lookback, to the latest candle | A profile that re-anchors itself |
TradingView also lists a periodic volume profile and a session volume profile HD. Check each one's settings on your chart. Crypto trades around the clock, so a session profile depends on how your chart defines a day. A fixed range profile drawn over the swing you care about avoids the question. For an intraday line that updates every candle, pair the profile with the VWAP.
Questions People Ask
Short answers to what people search for most, in plain words.
What is a volume profile?
A volume profile is a histogram of how much volume traded at each price over a chosen period. It is drawn as horizontal bars beside the chart, so you can see the prices where the most trading happened.
What is the point of control?
The point of control, or POC, is the price level with the highest traded volume in the profile's period. Many traders treat it as the fairest price of that period and watch how price behaves when it comes back to it.
What is the value area in a volume profile?
The value area is the range of prices where a set share of all volume traded, typically 70%. Its top is the value area high and its bottom is the value area low.
What is the difference between a volume profile and volume bars?
Volume bars show how much traded in each candle, so they tell you when trading happened. A volume profile adds up volume by price, so it tells you where trading happened.
Which volume profile should I use for crypto?
A fixed range profile over the swing or range you are trading is the most flexible, because crypto has no closing bell. The visible range profile is a quick read of the chart on screen, and a session profile suits intraday trading if you know how your chart defines a session.
Keep Reading
VWAP Indicator
The volume weighted average price, worked out by hand.
Support and Resistance
How volume nodes line up with the levels that matter.
TradingView Indicators for Crypto Trading
Trend, momentum, volume and volatility tools.
RSI Indicator
The 14-period formula, 70 and 30, and divergence.
Sources
- TradingView: Volume profile indicators, basic concepts
- TradingView blog: Auto Anchored Volume Profile
- Sizing math: the position size calculator.
Every source was opened and checked on Nov 3, 2026.
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