Video Transcript:
Hey everyone, it’s Dale here. If you’ve ever typed “volume profile” in TradingView’s indicator list, then I think you’ve probably seen quite a lot of volume profiles there, and it might be that you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by the different options TradingView offers. Yeah, it can be quite confusing because there are so many profiles like Session Volume Profile, HD Volume Profile, Fixed Range Volume Profile, Periodic Volume Profile, and Anchored Volume Profile. But in this video, I’m going to go through each one of them and show you what each of them does, how to apply them, which one I recommend using, and I’ll also show you how to create a powerful volume profile workspace for intraday trading. So, let’s get started.
The first thing I should mention is that for these volume profile indicators to work, you need at least the Essential Pack that TradingView offers. That’s the cheapest one, and it provides access to most of the volume profile indicators.
Here you can see a blank TradingView chart. The first volume profile indicator I’m going to load is the Session Volume Profile. To do that, go to Indicators and search for “volume profile.” Scroll down a bit, and you’ll find a list of volume profiles coded by TradingView’s official developers. Let’s load the Session Volume Profile.
When you load it for the first time, it looks like this—it shows daily volume profiles. As you can see, each profile displays how volume was distributed each day. This is the most standard volume profile. You’ll also notice a black line showing the Point of Control (POC), which is the level where the highest volume occurred during that day.
The profile is a bit rough by default and needs more detail. To fix that, go to Settings, then to “Ticks per Row,” and choose a small number—let’s say two. Click OK, and now it’s much more precise. This is why it’s called Session Volume Profile: if you go back to Settings, you’ll see that you can choose which session the volumes will display. For example, you could select only the pre-market, post-market, or set a custom session.
In my opinion, this isn’t too useful—why would you want to see the volume profile for just one part of the day and not the whole day? It doesn’t make much sense to me. So I always keep it set to display the full session, showing how volume is distributed throughout the day.
Now, the next one is the Session Volume Profile HD. Let me load that up. As you can see, it’s much more precise by default than the standard version. One cool feature is that it automatically increases its detail as you zoom in. Here it is zoomed out—now watch how it adjusts and becomes more detailed as I zoom in. The standard version can’t do that.
I would say the HD version is a bit superior to the standard Session Volume Profile. That said, this zoom feature is the main extra benefit. However, you’ll need TradingView’s Premium plan to use it. It’s the only volume profile indicator from TradingView that requires a Premium subscription. The others work with the Essential Pack just fine. If you have Premium, I’d recommend using this one. If not, just use the standard version and manually increase its detail—it will give you basically the same result.
Next up is the Periodic Volume Profile. When you load it, it looks a bit strange at first, so you’ll need to adjust it. Go to Settings, and at the top, choose the period. Let’s create a weekly volume profile. Set “Week” and choose 1. I’ll also increase the detail by setting the Row Size to 2. Click OK, and now you have a weekly volume profile. If I zoom out, you can see that a profile is printed for each week, showing how volume was distributed during that week. The current profile shows the current week’s distribution.
You can also change it to a monthly or daily profile. Let me show you—these are standard daily profiles. You can even go down to a 4-hour profile, where each volume profile shows the distribution for every 4-hour period. This is quite handy for intraday trading. In my opinion, the Periodic Volume Profile is one I would definitely recommend. Later in this video, I’ll show you how to build a solid workspace using this specific profile.
Now let’s move on to the Fixed Range Volume Profile. This is probably my favorite. The reason is that you can select a specific area on the chart where you want to see the volume distribution. You can move it around like this, which is especially useful for the volume profile setups that I trade.
For example, here I selected a trend area because I’m only interested in the volume distribution within this trend. I’m not interested in the daily or weekly profile—only in this trend, because I want to identify significant pullbacks where the price might react. This is one of my strategies.
By the way, there are more volume profile strategies that use this specific tool. You can learn about them in my Volume Profile Course, available at Trader-Dale.com. Just go to “Trading Course and Tools” and you’ll find the Volume Profile Pack, which includes a 15-hour video course, my custom-made indicators, tech support, access to daily and swing trading levels, and more. It’s quite useful if you’re serious about volume profile trading.
Back to TradingView—this profile is my favorite because you can move it around and focus on specific zones. Not just trends, but maybe you want to look at how volume was distributed in a rotation, or in an area from which price made a strong move up. These are important zones on the chart, and this tool helps you highlight them. For example, there’s a heavy volume zone here, and price reacted to it—this is exactly why I selected that area. So yes, I definitely recommend using this profile.
The next one is the Visible Range Volume Profile. When you load it, it looks kind of rough, but we can adjust it. It shows the volume distribution of the area that’s currently visible on your screen. That’s why it’s called “Visible Range.” If I zoom out, the profile adjusts, showing the volume over the expanded view.
Again, you’ll want to make it more detailed. Go to Settings, change “Ticks per Row” to something like five, and now it looks much better. What I like about this profile is that it gives you the big picture. You can quickly see where the key volume zones are. There’s a huge volume zone here, another one here, and a smaller one here. All of them could be important, depending on your strategy.
This profile is great for seeing the overall market structure. I don’t use it as a standalone strategy, but I like to combine it with other profiles. It’s a very helpful tool.
The last one is the Auto-Anchored Volume Profile. Let me load that up. In the settings, you can choose where the profile should anchor—that is, where it starts calculating from. For example, from the highest high. You can also anchor it from the lowest low, highest volume, or from the start of the week, month, or year.
To be honest, I don’t really find this profile useful. It seems like something coded by a developer rather than a trader. I don’t see a real trading scenario where you’d want to anchor a volume profile from the highest point of the day. If you want to select a specific area, just use the Fixed Range Volume Profile. Click left, click right, select the area, and you’re done.
So now we’ve covered all the volume profile tools TradingView offers. Let me do a quick recap.
First, the Session Volume Profile shows daily profiles. It’s a bit rough by default, but you can make it more precise. Then there’s the Session Volume Profile HD, which is more detailed and zoom-responsive but requires a Premium subscription. The Periodic Volume Profile lets you select custom periods like daily, weekly, or 4-hour, and it’s very versatile. The Fixed Range Profile allows you to analyze specific areas manually, and it’s my personal favorite. The Visible Range Profile shows volume across everything currently visible on your screen—great for the big picture. And finally, there’s the Auto-Anchored Profile, which I don’t recommend.
Now let me show you how to build a solid volume profile workspace. First, remove the Auto-Anchored Profile—we won’t use that. Start by loading the Periodic Volume Profile. Go to Settings, set it to weekly, and make it more detailed. That gives us weekly volume profiles.
Next, add the Visible Range Volume Profile so you can see the big picture. Adjust the row size to five or ten so it’s clearer. Lastly, load the Fixed Range Volume Profile, which you can move around to find specific setups. This one is especially useful because it’s flexible—you can examine any zone you find important.
So this is what a solid volume profile workspace looks like. I recommend trying it out. Build your own version, test it, and see how it works for you. Of course, you can adjust colors, opacity, and other settings, but the layout stays the same. I think you’ll really like it.
That’s it for today’s video. I hope you enjoyed it, I hope you learned something new, and I look forward to seeing you next time. Until then, happy trading.
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