Point of Control and Value Area

What this unit covers

Learn to find the Point of Control, the price with the most traded volume, and the Value Area, the range holding about 70 percent of a session's volume, from real data.

By the end you will be able to

• Identify the Point of Control as the price with the highest traded volume.
• Calculate the Value Area by adding adjacent prices until volume reaches about 70 percent.
• Explain why these figures describe past agreement, not future price direction.

How it starts: Where Did The Crowd Actually Trade

1. You pull up one session's trading table for a stock you hold.
2. One price shows 5,000 shares traded, far more than any other price nearby.
3. Does that busy price tell you what happened, or what happens next?

Words you will meet

Point of Control

The single price in a session where the most shares traded.

Value Area

The price range built outward from the POC that covers roughly 70 percent of a session's volume.

In this module: Market Profile & Volume Profile

1. Auction-Market Concepts
2. Point of Control and Value Area (this unit)
3. High- and Low-Volume Nodes
4. Contextual Use and Limitations