The Market ProfileA way of reading the market that recognizes either time spent or volume traded at a particular price level. A market profile can be either made up of “TPO’s” (time price opportunities), or volume. TPO’s measure how much time was spent at a particular price, while volume-based market profiles measure how much volume traded at a particular price. Generally, market profile is used in the trading of futures, especially the /ES. ShadowTrader utilizes volume based profiles. value areas and ShadowTrader Pivots for /ESZ21 and /NQZ21 Futures are posted free every morning in the ShadowTrader Swing Trader newsletter.
WindoTrader 702-800-4628 Speak with Terry about the ShadowTrader discount or CLICK HERE to learn more.
Click HERE for a market profile key that will help you interpret the chart above.
Pre market indications
| Opening In/Out Balance | in balance |
|---|---|
| Overnight InventoryA way of measuring overnight activity in the futures market by just noting how much of the overnight activity happens to fall above the prior day's settlement value (4:15pm EST close) and how much falls below. If more activity is above the settlement, then overnight inventory is said to be net long. If more is below, then it is said to be net short. If all of the overnight activity is above the settlement, then it is said to be 100% net long. If all of the activity is below the settlement then it is said to be 100% net short. The overnight inventory situation matters most and has the most impact on early trade when it is skewed 100% in either direction because when the imbalance is very large like that then the odds of an early correction increase greatly. This is due to the fact that most... | balanced |
| Current Price/Overnight Range | lower third |
| Shock and AweA term Peter uses to describe what overnight futures traders may be feeling when faced with an open that is wildly divergent from what they expected. Large gaps in either direction that are opening well outside of range are examples of this. The approach is that when the market opens in such a manner, there is often opportunity to trade earlier rather than later because of the large contingent of traders who will be forced to reverse their positions quickly. | no |
| Potential for Early Trade | no |
| Short Term Bias | neutral to bearish |
Key Levels for Today
| 4455.00 | RTHRegular Trading Hours. In the /ES this means the price action from 9:30am EST to 4:15pm EST only. High (Poor) |
|---|---|
| 4427.75 | Top of Single PrintsAny section of the market profile distribution that is only one TPO wide. Single prints are a sign of emotional buying or selling as very little time was spent at those levels and thus there is no value there. The endpoints of single print sections are considered to be potential support or resistance points. |
| 4401.25 | RTHRegular Trading Hours. In the /ES this means the price action from 9:30am EST to 4:15pm EST only. Low (Bottom of Single PrintsAny section of the market profile distribution that is only one TPO wide. Single prints are a sign of emotional buying or selling as very little time was spent at those levels and thus there is no value there. The endpoints of single print sections are considered to be potential support or resistance points.) |
| 4379.75 | VPOCVirgin Point of Control. This is a point of control level that has not yet been tested (traded through) during an RTH session. If the POC gets tested during an overnight session, it does not count and remains "virgin" until it happens during a day session. 9.22 |
Ongoing Narrative / Commentary
Solid gap lower within range thus no true gapThere is a lot of discussion as to what constitutes a gap. Is it measured to the prior day's close, or to the prior day's high or low. Here at ShadowTrader we believe that it is always and only to a prior day's high or low, thus creating a true gap or space on the chart between one day and the next. Thus a true gap is one that has price opening completely outside of the prior day's range (either above the high or below the low) and anything else is just a gap that has far less import. As a gap is a "reordering of thinking", only a true gap really changes the tone and creates opportunity to trade early rather than later.. It is, however, noteworthy where the gap is opening which is right in the middle of the large single print section of yesterday’s RTHRegular Trading Hours. In the /ES this means the price action from 9:30am EST to 4:15pm EST only. distribution.
Single printsAny section of the market profile distribution that is only one TPO wide. Single prints are a sign of emotional buying or selling as very little time was spent at those levels and thus there is no value there. The endpoints of single print sections are considered to be potential support or resistance points. are areas of emotion. Yesterday’s run from the open was a lot of shorts and FOMOFear Of Missing Out. traders hitting the button at market and repositioning. Now that we are trading back within that area, assume that it offers little in the way of support or resistance should we move in either direction. The RTHRegular Trading Hours. In the /ES this means the price action from 9:30am EST to 4:15pm EST only. Low is a Key Level because it represents the area where 100% of those emotional buyers would be wrong.
The high was poor yesterday and should be carried forward as a potential level for a break higher in order to repairA market profile term for "fixing" profile distributions that are missing parts that would make them complete or more symmetrical. This concept is most often applied to poor highs and poor lows which are profile distributions that lack excess on their endpoints and have two or more TPO's across creating tops or bottoms that look flat. Once a new session trades through these levels then it is as though the current activity was "pasted onto" the prior activity to complete the picture. It should be noted that repair can only occur in an RTH session. Overnight activity that trades through areas of poor RTH structure does not repair that structure. that structure. Note that when poor highs develop within a session, the odds of getting the first move which backs away from the poor highA poor high is one which lacks excess and is the opposite of an excess high. A poor high will have less than two TPO's of excess at the top of a daily range with at least 2-3 columns of TPO's lining up to form a flat looking top. It indicates that there are short term or weak handed longs at that high of day area. We know this because every time prices rise to the top, they get sold quickly, thus forming the poor high.
The poor high has two forward looking indications. The first is that prices should back away from the poor high as there are a number of longs trapped at poor location. The second is that if the next day or in some subsequent session, the poor high is revisited, then the odds are strong that it will break and move higher. This is called repair as it repairs the structur... are very strong.
Scenarios
- Overnight inventoryA way of measuring overnight activity in the futures market by just noting how much of the overnight activity happens to fall above the prior day's settlement value (4:15pm EST close) and how much falls below. If more activity is above the settlement, then overnight inventory is said to be net long. If more is below, then it is said to be net short. If all of the overnight activity is above the settlement, then it is said to be 100% net long. If all of the activity is below the settlement then it is said to be 100% net short. The overnight inventory situation matters most and has the most impact on early trade when it is skewed 100% in either direction because when the imbalance is very large like that then the odds of an early correction increase greatly. This is due to the fact that most... is balanced and we are still opening within range so the direction of any opening drive is not really clear. Better trades should develop later rather than earlier in today’s session.
- Any early rally can target the Top of the Single PrintsAny section of the market profile distribution that is only one TPO wide. Single prints are a sign of emotional buying or selling as very little time was spent at those levels and thus there is no value there. The endpoints of single print sections are considered to be potential support or resistance points. which should be resistant. A fadeWhen a stock moves opposite the direction of its gap on an intraday basis off against that level is a solid trade setup.
- Due to the lack of support of the single printsAny section of the market profile distribution that is only one TPO wide. Single prints are a sign of emotional buying or selling as very little time was spent at those levels and thus there is no value there. The endpoints of single print sections are considered to be potential support or resistance points., assume that any early opening drive lower towards or through the ONLOvernight Low. A term mostly used for the futures market as it trades almost around the clock. To be precise, in the /ES this would be the lowest price between 4:30pm EST and 9:30am EST the next day. keeps bias to the downside and puts the RTHRegular Trading Hours. In the /ES this means the price action from 9:30am EST to 4:15pm EST only. Low into play. A lot of today will be about whether or not this either happens and moves lower or happens and gets rejected and comes back into range. That will tell us a lot about the longer term direction.
A Bet and a Victor eBook
Best way to dip your toe into the ocean of Trading Psychology for a tiny price. Follow protagonist Victor and see how many of his trading psychology pitfalls you recognize!
$20 - Get Yours Today
