Volume profile
Look at volume by price instead of by time, which answers a more useful question: where did business actually get done?
Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is sent anywhere. Educational only, and not investment advice.
How to use this calculator
Each step names a control you will find on screen above.
- Show the volume profile
Toggle it on. The histogram along the price axis replaces the usual bars along the time axis.
- Find the fattest bar
The price with the most volume traded — the point of control. More shares changed hands here than anywhere else on the chart.
- Find the thin areas
Prices where almost nothing traded. Price tends to move through these quickly, because there is nobody there to slow it down.
- Use both to place a stop
A stop inside a high-volume node is likely to be hit by ordinary activity. A stop just beyond a thin area is far less exposed.
Worked example: Reading a profile before placing a stop
Turn on the profile and identify the heavy and thin regions before deciding where a stop belongs.
What to enter
- Show the volume profile
- On
What it shows you
- Point of control
- The fattest node
- High-volume nodes
- Price moves slowly through them
- Low-volume gaps
- Price travels through quickly
- Stop inside a heavy node
- Likely to be hit by noise
- Stop beyond a thin area
- Only hit if the move is real
the market’s agreed fair price
Where this is taught
A calculator gives you a number. These explain what the number means and when it misleads you.
- Technical Analysis12 minMarket Profile: reading time instead of volumeA distribution of where price spent its time, rather than where it traded most. Value areas, the point of control, and why balance and imbalance matter more than patterns.
- Technical Analysis11 minVolume profile: volume by price, not by timeStandard charts show how much traded each day. Volume profile shows how much traded at each price — which is the more useful question.