Just an example from my latest session. A very clearly defined
value area from 2 days before (not 1 day before which created a considerably less accentuated VA at around 3575) was 3545-3555 (the market spent hours in this range). 1 day before market closed at 3584 after a failed rally. As China broke down and international markets opened considerably lower, before my open I decided to enter a buy order at 3545 which was the low of a strong VA and more than 1% below last close. Safe point of entry. It was a very good decision but not a perfect one...the market opened 3549, reached 3546 and rallied fast to 3565. I did not get a fill. From this lesson I gathered that next time I will place my entry order closer to the middle of VA. Let's see what happened next - the market after reaching 3565 started a slow descent that finally broke the low of VA and I could see increased selling interest by those who perceived the situation as breakdown. But they acted too early - 3543 was the lowest the price got. Then it re-entered VA and, exactly as PivotProfiler writes above, started soon an agressive climb to 3584 (day close was 3579). I took part in this move although I entered a bit late - I did not know about the 80%! - waiting for momentum to occur. Cheers.