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TPO

The basic unit of a market profile: one letter marking that price traded during a given time bracket, stacked to form the distribution.

Each half-hour of the session gets a letter, and a letter is printed at every price the market touched during that bracket. Stacking the letters horizontally builds the profile shape.

TPO counts measure time at price, which is different from volume-profile, which measures contracts traded at price. The two usually agree but can diverge sharply when a lot of volume trades quickly at one level, and the disagreement is itself informative.

TPO is a product of the pit era, when time brackets were the natural unit and volume at price was not available. With modern data, volume profile is often the more direct measurement, and many traders now use both side by side.

Related: market-profile, volume-profile, single-prints, initial-balance, point-of-control

See it drawn

Original diagrams for the ideas on this page. Illustrative, not real market data.

A volume profile beside a price chartA price line on the left and, on the right, horizontal bars showing how much volume traded at each price; the longest bar marks the point of control and a shaded band marks the value area.52.051.050.049.0timePRICE OVER TIMEVOLUME AT EACH PRICEVALUE AREAwhere most ofthe volume tradedPOCthe single pricewith the mostvolumeLonger bars mean more shares changed hands at that price.
Volume profile, point of control and value area. Turn the chart on its side and count how much traded at each price instead of at each moment. The longest bar is the point of control, and the shaded band around it is the value area where most of the session's business was done.

Educational only, not advice. Spotted an error? Post in Site Feedback.