# What is Volume profile?

> Also called: Market profile, Point of control, POC, Value area, VAH, VAL

**In short.** A volume profile is a histogram of the volume traded at each price over a period (a session, a week, a composite). Its point of control (POC) is the price with the most volume; the value area is the range around it holding 70 % of the volume, bounded by the value area high (VAH) and low (VAL). These levels are where order-flow patterns are read.

Price trading inside the value area is rotation: fading the edges works. Price accepting outside it is a trend day: the edge becomes support or resistance. A naked POC from a prior session (never revisited) is a magnet many traders use as a target.

The profile gives the where, the footprint gives the who: a value area low with absorption on the footprint is a trade; a value area low with nothing on the flow is a line on a chart.

- Read next: [Footprint chart](https://fillprint.io/en/glossary/footprint-chart)
- Read next: [Liquidity heatmap](https://fillprint.io/en/glossary/liquidity-heatmap)
- Read next: [Delta](https://fillprint.io/en/glossary/delta)

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