Trader's Glossary

Value AreaValue Area (VAH / VAL)

The price range where 70% of session volume traded. VAH = Value Area High, VAL = Value Area Low. Often act as range boundaries.

The Value Area is the price range containing 70% of a session's traded volume. VAH (Value Area High) = top of that range, VAL (Value Area Low) = bottom. Outside the value area is 'low-volume territory' where price tends to move fast through.

Classic auction-theory trade: price moving from one value-area extreme back to POC and on to the opposite extreme. Day traders use VAH as the natural take-profit on longs and VAL as TP on shorts. Acceptance above VAH = bullish breakout signal; rejection = mean reversion back to POC.