Where the volume actually traded — the point of control, the 70% value area, and the rules from the VP Strategy Reel. This free lesson covers: Volume by price, not by time, The point of control, Name it, The value area, Fill it in, The rules from the Reel, Trade or not?, A map, not a signal, Then we tested these exact rules, Put it together.
Going deeper
This lesson is the long form of the VP Strategy Reel. After it was published, a viewer asked for the rules to be checked on historical data — the next lesson is that test, and the original rules did not survive it.
The 70% value area comes from market profile, where it approximates one standard deviation of a normal distribution around the point of control. TradingView's profile tools use 70% by default.
Session volume profile or fixed range volume profile both work. What matters is using the same range every day, so the levels are comparable.
The profile shape is useful, but the volume is tick volume from your broker, not exchange volume. Dow futures (YM) carry real exchange volume if you want to compare.
Strategy Playbook · Learn · Step 1 of 10
A normal volume bar shows how much traded in each candle. A volume profile turns that sideways: how much traded at each price.
The result is a histogram on the side of the chart. Wide rows are prices the market accepted; thin rows are prices it moved through quickly.