How is volume profile different from the volume bars?

The bars group volume by time — how much traded in each hour. The profile groups it by price — how much traded at each price, over the whole window.

The price where the most volume traded during the window. It tends to attract price back, because that is where the most resting interest and the most positions live.

Why does price move fast through some areas?

Those are low-volume nodes — prices where almost no business was done. There is little resting interest to slow price down, so it crosses them quickly in both directions.

Volume profile and POC

Volume sorted by price instead of by time. It shows where trading actually happened, rather than when.

Updated September 4, 2026

Sorted by price, not by time

The volume bars under a chart answer "how much traded during this hour". A volume profile answers a different question: "how much traded at this price", regardless of when.

Turned on its side, it shows a shape — fat where the market spent effort agreeing, thin where price passed through without anyone wanting to trade.

POC and value area

Two numbers carry most of the meaning:

POC (point of control) — the single price with the most volume. The market's idea of fair value for the period.
Value area — the band around POC holding roughly 70% of volume. Inside it, participants broadly agreed on price; outside, they did not.
High-volume nodes act as magnets: price returns to prices where lots of business was done, because that is where resting interest is.
Low-volume nodes act the opposite way: price crosses them quickly, because nobody wants to trade there. They are where fast moves happen.

Why the shape matters more than the level

A profile with one fat middle is a balanced market: agreement on value, and moves away from POC tend to snap back. A profile with two fat areas and a thin middle is a market that rejected the middle — it has been trading in two separate regimes.

Reading the shape tells you which behaviour to expect before you read any level: mean-reversion around a single node, or fast travel across a thin one.

The window defines the answer

A profile over one day and a profile over three months describe different markets, and their POCs can be far apart. Neither is wrong; they answer questions on different horizons.

This is the same discipline as everything else on the chart: match the window to your holding period, and do not mix a level from one with a plan from the other.

Common questions

How is volume profile different from the volume bars?: The bars group volume by time — how much traded in each hour. The profile groups it by price — how much traded at each price, over the whole window.
What is POC?: The price where the most volume traded during the window. It tends to attract price back, because that is where the most resting interest and the most positions live.
Why does price move fast through some areas?: Those are low-volume nodes — prices where almost no business was done. There is little resting interest to slow price down, so it crosses them quickly in both directions.