Point of Control

The Point of Control (POC) is the price level within a Volume Profile that traded the most contracts or shares. It represents the session's (or profile period's) fair-value consensus, the price at which the most participants agreed to transact. POC acts as both magnet and pivot: when price is away from POC, it often drifts back toward it; once there, POC becomes a decision point where significant reversals or continuations occur.

Different profile types produce different POCs: Session POC (daily), Composite POC (multi-session), Developing POC (intraday, shifting as session progresses). Strategies exploit two POC behaviors, reversion (fading extreme moves toward POC) and breakout (trading away from POC after extended consolidation). POC combines well with Value Area boundaries: the 70% high-volume region bounded by Value Area High (VAH) and Value Area Low (VAL), with POC typically near the middle.