Value Area, POC, and POA Explained

Three terms, three roles. Value Area tells you the zone of acceptance. POC tells you the single fairest price. POA tells you the auction's most recent focus. Get these straight and the rest of Market Profile falls into place.

Value Area (VA)

The Value Area is the price range where the market spent 70% of a session's TPOs — equivalent to one standard deviation around the mean. By convention, this is the zone the market considers "fair value" for the day.

• Value Area High (VAH): top of the value area.
• Value Area Low (VAL): bottom of the value area.
• Width of VA: VAH minus VAL. Wide VA = balanced, indecisive day. Narrow VA = directional day.

How to trade the Value Area:

• Inside VA: price tends to mean-revert. Fade extremes, target the POC.
• Above VAH: buyers accepted higher prices. Look for longs on pullbacks to VAH.
• Below VAL: sellers accepted lower prices. Look for shorts on rallies to VAL.

Point of Control (POC)

The POC is the single price level with the most TPOs (or, in Volume Profile, the most traded volume) for the session. It is the market's clearest expression of "this is the fairest price right now."

• POC as magnet: price tends to revisit the POC, especially on balanced days.
• POC as support/resistance: a strong POC from a prior session often acts as a level in the next session.
• Migrating POC: when the POC shifts over multiple sessions, the market is repricing value — a trend is underway.

How to trade the POC: on balanced days, fade moves that overshoot the POC and revert. On trend days, treat prior POCs as pullback targets for entries with the trend.

Point of Auction (POA)

The POA is the most-traded price in the current developing period — the live, evolving POC. While the POC is finalized at session close, the POA updates continuously as new TPOs print.

• POA rising through the session = buyers in control, developing value higher.
• POA falling = sellers in control, developing value lower.
• POA stable = balanced session, expect mean reversion.

Putting them together

A simple daily routine:

1. Mark the prior session's POC, VAH, VAL on your chart.
2. At the open, watch whether price trades inside, above, or below yesterday's VA.
3. Track the POA as the session develops. Is the new value forming higher, lower, or in place?
4. Trade accordingly: inside VA → fade to POC; above VAH with rising POA → buy pullbacks; below VAL with falling POA → sell rallies.

Common confusion

TPO-based Value Area uses time; Volume Profile VA uses traded volume. They overlap but differ — and on trend days, price can stay outside VA for the entire session.