· VOLUME PROFILES
The point of control explained with one session
The point of control is the price with the most traded volume. One ES session shows how to find it and how row size moves it, with the Liquivue VPOC.
SHORT ANSWER
The point of control, or POC, is the price where the most contracts traded during a chosen period. To find it, add up the volume at each price and pick the largest total. The result changes with the period and the row size. Liquivue marks it as the VPOC on its volume profile.
The point of control is the price where the most contracts traded during a chosen period. Traders shorten it to POC, and some platforms call it the VPOC, for volume point of control. The earlier note on what a volume profile measures introduced the term. This note finds the POC in one session and checks how much the result depends on settings.
The session
Here is an invented session in the E-mini S&P 500 future, ES, with one row per 0.25 tick. Each row shows the contracts that traded at that price.
| Price | Contracts traded |
|---|---|
| 5,042.75 | 1,100 |
| 5,042.50 | 2,300 |
| 5,042.25 | 3,800 |
| 5,042.00 | 4,900 |
| 5,041.75 | 6,200 |
| 5,041.50 | 5,900 |
| 5,041.25 | 6,400 |
| 5,041.00 | 3,000 |
| 5,040.75 | 2,600 |
| 5,040.50 | 4,100 |
| 5,040.25 | 2,200 |
| 5,040.00 | 900 |
The session traded 43,400 contracts across 12 prices.
How to find the point of control
- Add up the contracts at each price for the period. The table above already holds those totals.
- Pick the price with the largest total. Here that is 5,041.25 with 6,400 contracts.
- Work out its share of the session. 6,400 divided by 43,400 is 14.7%.
How close the runner-up is
The second busiest price is 5,041.75 with 6,200 contracts. The gap between first and second is 200 contracts, or 0.46% of the session. One 200-lot traded at 5,041.75 in the last minute would have tied the two rows. A 201-lot would have moved the POC up two ticks.
Before you use a POC in a review, compare it with the runner-up. A POC that leads by 3,000 contracts and a POC that leads by 200 contracts look identical on the chart. The table shows the difference.
The profile also has a second peak lower down. The row at 5,040.50 holds 4,100 contracts, more than the rows on either side of it. That row is not the POC, but it is a price where volume built up. A later note covers high and low volume nodes.
What happens with a tie
Suppose 5,041.75 had traded 6,400 contracts too. Two prices would share the top total. A profile marks only one POC, so the platform needs a tie rule. One possible rule picks the tied price nearest the middle of the profile's range. Another picks the first tied price the platform counted. Check your platform's documentation if two rows sit within a few contracts of each other.
How row size moves the POC
Group two ticks into each row and the same trades give a different answer. Pair the rows from the top.
| Row | Contracts traded |
|---|---|
| 5,042.50 to 5,042.75 | 3,400 |
| 5,042.00 to 5,042.25 | 8,700 |
| 5,041.50 to 5,041.75 | 12,100 |
| 5,041.00 to 5,041.25 | 9,400 |
| 5,040.50 to 5,040.75 | 6,700 |
| 5,040.00 to 5,040.25 | 3,100 |
The busiest row is now 5,041.50 to 5,041.75 with 12,100 contracts. The single-tick POC at 5,041.25 sits in the 9,400 row, which ranks second. The trades are the same in both tables, and only the row size changed.
The same check applies to the period. A profile of the regular session and a profile that includes the overnight hours count different trades, so they can give different POCs. The footprint note on reading a bar row by row finds a POC inside one five-minute bar, which is the same calculation over a shorter period.
The same session in Liquivue
Liquivue draws a volume profile next to its futures heatmap and marks the VPOC on it. For this session, the profile would show 12 bars with the longest at 5,041.25. The 5,041.75 bar would sit two ticks above it, 200 contracts shorter.
The heatmap beside the profile shows resting size, which the profile leaves out. The profile counts the 6,400 contracts that traded at 5,041.25. The heatmap shows how much size rested on the bid and offer at that price while those trades printed. Suppose the heatmap showed 150 contracts resting at 5,041.25 for most of the morning. Then the 6,400 traded contracts came from many orders that joined and filled over time, not from one large resting order.
Liquivue's docked HTF chart also has daily, composite and custom volume profiles. Use the daily profile to compare this session's POC with the POC of the session before. A later note covers composite profiles.
Other platforms
ATAS, Sierra Chart and NinjaTrader all list volume profiles, and each one marks a POC. Row size and session times are settings on each platform. The same ES session can show a different POC on two platforms until you match them. The glossary defines the profile terms used here.
A check you can run
Open a volume profile for one session and write down the POC and its contract count. Then find the second busiest price and write down its count. Divide the gap by the session total. If the gap is under 1% of the session, double the row size and see whether the POC moves.
Questions
What is the point of control in a volume profile?
It is the price where the most contracts traded during the profile's period. On a chart it is the longest horizontal bar of the profile.
What is the difference between POC and VPOC?
Both names describe the same price in a volume profile. VPOC stands for volume point of control and separates it from the TPO point of control, which counts time at each price instead of contracts.
Why does my point of control differ from another trader's?
The two charts may use different periods, row sizes or session start times. In this note's session, grouping two ticks per row moves the POC from 5,041.25 to the row that covers 5,041.50 and 5,041.75.
Does Liquivue show the point of control?
Yes. Liquivue lists volume and delta profiles with a VPOC next to its futures heatmap. Its docked HTF chart also has daily, composite and custom volume profiles.
Educational content about market data and charting software. It is not trading or investment advice. Trading involves risk.