Market Profile
Feb 24, 2018
The Market Profile indicator provides a visual representation of price distribution over a specified time interval, identifying key levels such as the Point of Control (POC) and Value Area. This tool helps traders understand where the majority of trading activity occurred, highlighting areas of high liquidity and potential support or resistance.
Usage
The indicator can be used to identify institutional activity and market balance. When price is trading within the Value Area, the market is considered to be in "balance." A breakout from the Value Area suggests a potential trending move.
- Point of Control (POC): Represented as a central area, this signifies the price level where the most time was spent during the session.
- Value Area High/Low (VAH/VAL): These areas represent a specific percentage of the total Time Price Opportunities (TPO), typically set at 70%, identifying where most trading volume occurred.
- Open Session Lines: Displays the opening price of the session as a horizontal reference line.
Details
The script calculates the frequency of price action across 20 distinct price sections (TPO sections) derived from the session's high-low range. Unlike traditional profiles that use a single line for the POC, this version utilizes a POC area to better represent the price range with the highest frequency. The Value Area is then expanded symmetrically from the POC until the target percentage of the total TPO count is reached.
Settings
- Session timeframe: Determines the duration of each profile (e.g., Daily, Weekly, Monthly).
- Percent of TPO: Sets the percentage of activity to include within the Value Area (default is 0.70 or 70%).
- Open session lines: The number of historical session open lines to display on the chart.
- Sessions to display: Limits the number of historical profiles shown to optimize performance.
- Point of control: Customization options for the POC background, line color, and width.
- VAH/VAL: Customization options for the Value Area High and Value Area Low background colors.
FAQ
How do I interpret the POC area?
The POC area represents the price range where the market found the most equilibrium during the session. It often acts as a magnet for price or a significant pivot point.
Can I change the session length?
Yes, you can adjust the "Session timeframe" in the settings to create profiles for different intervals, such as "D" for daily or "W" for weekly.
How do I access Market Profile?
You can get access on the LuxAlgo Library for charting platforms like TradingView, MetaTrader (MT4/MT5), and NinjaTrader for free.
Trading & investing are risky and many will lose money in connection with trading and investing activities. All content on this site is not intended to, and should not be, construed as financial advice. Decisions to buy, sell, hold or trade in securities, commodities and other investments involve risk and are best made based on the advice of qualified financial professionals. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Hypothetical or Simulated performance results have certain limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Also, since the trades have not been executed, the results may have under-or-over compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, including, but not limited to, lack of liquidity. Simulated trading programs in general are designed with the benefit of hindsight, and are based on historical information. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profit or losses similar to those shown.
Testimonials appearing on this website may not be representative of other clients or customers and is not a guarantee of future performance or success.
As a provider of technical analysis tools and strategies, we do not have access to the personal trading accounts or brokerage statements of our customers. As a result, we have no reason to believe our customers perform better or worse than traders as a whole based on any content, tool, or platform feature we provide.
Charts used on this site are by TradingView in which the majority of our technical indicators are built on. TradingView® is a registered trademark of TradingView, Inc. www.TradingView.com TradingView® has no affiliation with the owner, developer, or provider of the Services described herein.
Market data is provided by CBOE, CME Group, BarChart, Massive, CoinAPI. Select U.S. equities data is provided through Massive. CBOE BZX real-time U.S. equities data is licensed from CBOE and provided through BarChart. Real-time futures data is licensed from CME Group and provided through BarChart. Select cryptocurrency data, including major coins, is provided through CoinAPI. All data is provided “as is” and should be verified independently for trading purposes.
This does not represent our full Disclaimer. Please read our full disclaimer.
© 2026 LuxAlgo Global, LLC.