Updated · first published
What is volume profile (Deep Profile)?
The volume profile flips the view: instead of volume over time, it shows volume by price. It surfaces the POC (point of control, the most-traded price), the value area (where most trading happened) and low-volume gaps. These are the reference levels the market likes to revisit.
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What DeepCharts does better
Deep Profile computes the volume profile where it matters, and DeepCharts adds the swing profile and VWAP (daily, weekly, monthly, with manual drawing) in the same order-flow environment. You don't read a profile in isolation: you read it above the footprint and liquidity, on granular data.
Using it day to day
Day to day, use it to frame your levels: the POC and value-area edges make excellent decision points, VWAP serves as a session reference. A return to the POC is often an opportunity; a break out of value area, a sign of acceptance of a new price.
Example: the FDAX opens above yesterday's value area, then drops back into it. The upper edge of that value area, paired with VWAP, offers a clean reaction zone: the flow shows absorption there, price rejects, the reference held.
⚠ The trap to avoid
The trap: treating the POC as a mechanical magnet. Volume-profile levels are references, not guarantees: without flow confirmation when price tests them, they're just lines. Trend context decides whether they act as a bounce or a springboard.
Combine it with
Combine it with the footprint and delta (to confirm the reaction at a level) and Deep-M Effort (for bias): the profile says where, order flow says whether it holds.
FAQ
What is the POC in a volume profile?+
The Point of Control: the price where the most volume traded over the period. It's a reference level the market tends to revisit.
What is the value area?+
The price zone where most volume happened (often ~70%). Its edges act as decision levels: staying inside = balance, leaving it = acceptance of a new price.
Volume profile or footprint?+
They complement each other: the volume profile locates reference prices (where), the footprint shows real-time aggression at those prices (how the market reacts there).
What period should a profile cover?+
It depends on the goal: a session profile for intraday, a last-days or last-weeks profile for swing references. The two combine usefully.
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