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Value area high

The upper boundary of the price range containing roughly seventy percent of a session's activity.

The value-area is built outward from the point-of-control until about 70 percent of volume or TPO count is enclosed. Its top edge is the value area high.

Traders treat it as the upper boundary of accepted prices. In balanced conditions price rotates between the value area high and low, making the edges natural fade points; acceptance above it, meaning sustained trade rather than a poke, suggests the market is seeking higher value.

The 70 percent figure comes from the first standard deviation of a normal distribution, which real profiles rarely are. The boundary is a useful convention, not a statistically rigorous threshold, and it should be treated as a zone rather than a precise price.

Related: value-area-low, value-area, point-of-control, market-profile, balance-area

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.