The volume profile: where the market did business

The volume profile turns volume ninety degrees. Instead of counting the contracts traded per period of time (the bars under the chart), it counts them per price, over a chosen period: a session, a week, a move. The result is a horizontal histogram, laid on the price axis, which shows where the market agreed to do business and where it refused to stay.

It is the tool that gives context to the whole order flow reading. The footprint tells you what is happening now; the profile tells you where the prices the market considers fair are, and therefore where it is likely to react.