Market Profile Key Terms

[Soultrader]

Key terms:

1. Initial balance - market activity in the first hour
2. Range extension - price action extending beyond the initial balance
3. Range - range from high to low
4. Single print buying tails - any single print TPO's at the lower extreme of the profile
5. Single print selling tails - any single print TPO's at the upper extreme of the profile
6. Point of control (POC) - price level of most volume. POC indicates an area of greatest market activity
7. TPO - stands for Time Price Opportunity. Letters are used to build the market profile structure. Each letter represents a half hour period. The letter is also known as the TPO.
8. Value area - price range in which approximately 70% of the market volume took place.
9. Value high - the upper pivot of the value area
10. Value low - the lower pivot of the value area

[slableak]

I have been watching the first hour initial balance for a few weeks now and I am starting to get a feel for it. On this chart I posted the past 4 trading days. The initial balance is in the first box. I sometimes doubled the box to see how far it would travel up/down the second box in the direction of the trend. When the IB boxes were large it only trended 1/2 way into the second box. When it was small like Friday It doubled the box. Once the IB forms the price seems to make the decision if it wants to trend above/below the box by not going below/above the 1/2 way mark after the IB is formed. When it doubled the box on Friday it consolidated inside the areas of the two boxes. I am very interested in learning more about how to read the first hour IB. Any input is greatly appreciated.

[Jakew]

Great review of terms and a great chart. I wonder if the opening balance couldn't be defined based on the first 30 minutes of trading, just like TPOs. Isn't it true that S&P tends to choose it's direction for a couple of next hours of trading around 30 minutes after open? (the last hour of trading might change the direction again)

[drlicks]

Great introduction thanks!

[RAVIN]

Originally Posted by Soultrader Key terms: 1. Initial balance - market activity in the first hour 2. Range extension - price action extending beyond the initial balance 3. Range - range from high to low 4. Single print buying tails - any single print TPO's at the lower extreme of the profile 5. Single print selling tails - any single print TPO's at the upper extreme of the profile 6. Point of control (POC) - price level of most volume. POC indicates an area of greatest market activity 7. TPO - stands for Time Price Opportunity. Letters are used to build the market profile structure. Each letter represents a half hour period. The letter is also known as the TPO. 8. Value area - price range in which approximately 70% of the market volume took place. 9. Value high - the upper pivot of the value area 10. Value low - the lower pivot of the value area

Followers of Mark Fisher's Pivots etc claim that their calculated pivot ranges match those of the traditional Market profile i.e 70% price action contained within those ranges, do you subscribe to that view, if so, why, if not, why?
Comments from all interested in this subject would be appreciatd

[Reaver]

Hmmm good question....Mark Fisher, as in the ACD guy?

Any comments from anyone in the know?

[ammo]

i'm self taught in mp,the days picture is a boob, the widest point is a nipple,these nipples when we descend after say a 2 month rise are supports or targets on the way down. Intraday when we make a second boob the cleavage in the middle is a magnet and usually the mrkt will return and fill that area,yesterday there was cleavage at 1362-64 in the es and it went back and fillled in the last half hour. If you take the ytd weekly bar chart and use it to make a very large mp chart,1 week equaling 1 letter, you will see a large gap between 1385 and 1335,85 and 35 both being nips,we will reach 1335 this week as we are backfilling the past,i don't use the 70% value area,see no use for it

[AgeKay]

First of all, I love how you use terms of a woman's chest. Plain and simple.

Originally Posted by ammo If you take the ytd weekly bar chart and use it to make a very large mp chart,1 week equaling 1 letter, you will see a large gap between 1385 and 1335,85 and 35 both being nips,we will reach 1335 this week as we are backfilling the past,i don't use the 70% value area,see no use for it

Which contract do you use for longer term MP charts such as your ytd chart. What I mean is, if the front month contract has just expired, do you use the data of the previous front-month contract or of the new front-month contract?

[ammo]

on that ytd i use the spx,no offense if you're a female,could be drew cary's chest,i can't keep track of all the abbreviations used for different meanings on the charts,with the int rate so low the near month is trading almost equal to the spx, if you go to charthub and search around you can find ytd charts of the spx market profile,currently there is cleavage at 1258,for some unknown reason we didn't fill there today,thats also (1259) a fib # for 1200 to 1311 retracement, its only a guess but its possible that when a # doesnt hit on the way down that there were so many buyers there that they stepped up their bid and we could rally the rest of the week,some elliott wave folks are looking at sep 3 area for a significant turn in the mrkt,its a cycle date

[stalor455]

I use the value area in conjunction with floor trader pivots, combined they work very well for me, does anyone know of any websites where I can find the value area numbers? I like putting the value area on my chart for the next day. Thanks for any help....ST