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Log in with DiscordVolume By Price
Volume by price organizes historical trading activity into price areas. It is often displayed as a volume profile: horizontal bars beside a price chart.
Ordinary volume bars group shares by time. A volume profile groups activity by price over a selected period. It helps show where more or less trading occurred within that period.
Read The Horizontal Bars
Each row covers a price range, sometimes called a price bin. A longer bar means more volume has been assigned to that range than to a shorter bar on the same scale.
In a simple example, suppose actual trades have been grouped into three non-overlapping ranges. Both periods below are complete regular sessions, with identical price-bin settings.
| Price range | Monday shares | Tuesday shares |
|---|---|---|
| $10.00 up to $10.10 | 10,000 | 60,000 |
| $10.10 up to $10.20 | 70,000 | 20,000 |
| $10.20 up to $10.30 | 20,000 | 20,000 |
| Total | 100,000 | 100,000 |
Monday's busiest range is $10.10–$10.20. Tuesday's is $10.00–$10.10. Total volume is equal, but its distribution differs. An execution exactly at $10.10 belongs to the second range in this example, so it is not counted twice.
Combine both sessions and the first range contains 70,000 shares, the second 90,000, and the third 40,000. The combined profile differs from either daily profile because it covers a different period.
The Selected Window Matters
A profile for the morning can differ from one for the full session. A multi-day profile combines activity that a single-day profile separates. A visible-range tool may change when the chart is zoomed or scrolled.
Choose the period that matches the question being studied. For an intraday level, that might be today's session. For a swing-trading comparison, it might be several completed days. Changing the window changes the trading included, rather than revealing a new order book.
How The Tool Builds The Profile
Not every profile is built from individual executions. Some chart tools estimate activity across price rows using shorter-timeframe bars. Row width, available data and calculation choices can change the result.
Some volume profiles use lower-timeframe bars to estimate activity in each price range. They may divide up and down volume according to price direction. Those colors do not count buyers and sellers separately.
Check the selected session, historical window and row size before comparing profiles. When a tool estimates volume from candles, its price rows may differ from counts built directly from individual trades.
Historical Activity And Current Orders
A long bar marks substantial historical activity in that range. It does not show how many orders are waiting there now, who still holds shares from that area, or how price must react when it returns.
A shorter bar means less activity was assigned to that range during the selected period. It does not guarantee that price will move quickly through it next time. New orders and new information can change the market.
Connect The Profile To Levels
Suppose Monday's busiest range overlaps a resistance area from earlier chart reactions. If price returns, compare its response with that historical context. It might reject the area, move through it, or trade sideways within it.
The profile adds information about past trading; the current candles show the new response. Neither a long bar nor a familiar level guarantees support or resistance.
Does a profile containing 70,000 shares near $10.15 mean that 70,000 shares are available to sell there now? No. Those shares traded during the chosen period. Current available orders belong to market depth. Unusual Volume brings the course's activity and execution concepts together.