Lesson 9: Volume Profile and Order Flow

Lesson 9 of 10 · about 8 minutes · course overview

Volume shows where business was done; order flow shows who was aggressive. Together they are how floor traders and desks map support and resistance without drawing a single trend line.

Volume profile

Turn volume sideways and you get volume at each price. The price with the most volume is the point of control (POC); the band holding 70% of volume is the value area. Prices inside value are "accepted"; quick moves through thin areas show prices the market rejected.

How to read it

• Price returning into value after a breakout attempt often rotates through the whole value area.
• Acceptance outside value (volume building at new prices for several hours) is what turns a breakout into a trend.
• Low-volume pockets tend to be crossed quickly in either direction.

Order flow and footprints

Order flow tools split each bar's volume into trades that hit the bid and trades that lifted the offer, and plot delta (buyers minus sellers). Absorption (heavy selling with no price drop) and exhaustion (a burst of buying that fails) are the classic patterns. Spot gold has no central tape, so this needs exchange futures data, which is paid. Public hourly volume, as on our profile page, gives the bigger picture.

Timing matters too: see when gold moves the most. The technique lesson is volume profile for gold.