Reading the Market Like an Insider — Lessons from the Volume Profile

This book isn’t about signals, setups, or secret formulas. It’s about understanding market behavior from the inside out — how price and volume interact to create structure, balance, and opportunity.

It’s the kind of book that changes how you look at the market.
Not what you trade, but why you take a trade.

Let’s go through some of its most powerful concepts.

  1. The Market Is a Business of Value

The author describes the market as a continuous auction, constantly searching for fair value.
Price moves up when buyers are willing to pay more, and down when sellers are eager to accept less.

Volume Profile visualizes this process — showing where value is accepted (high volume areas) and where it’s rejected (low volume areas).

• High Volume Areas (HVNs) are where the market spent time and traded heavily.
  These zones act as support/resistance because both buyers and sellers agree that it’s a fair price.

• Low Volume Areas (LVNs) are places where price moved quickly — no agreement, just rejection.
  These often become breakout or rejection zones later.

Once you start seeing the market this way, every candle becomes part of a negotiation — not noise.

 2. The Structure: POC, VAH, VAL

Every Volume Profile has a few key landmarks:

• POC (Point of Control): The single price where the most volume was traded.
  Think of it as the “center of gravity” for that session or trend.

• VAH (Value Area High) and VAL (Value Area Low):
  These mark the upper and lower edges of where roughly 70% of all volume occurred.

Price tends to oscillate within this value area during balance periods — and when it breaks out, it’s often the start of a new auction.

This is why Volume Profile isn’t just for levels — it’s for context. It tells you whether the market is balanced or seeking new value.

  3. High and Low Volume Nodes — The Real Market Map

While most traders draw trendlines, you can draw zones based on volume nodes:

• High Volume Nodes (HVN):
  These are the “busy intersections” of the market — price slows down, consolidates, builds energy.

• Low Volume Nodes (LVN):
  These are “fast lanes” — price often slices through them quickly because there’s little trading interest there.

Traders use this knowledge to plan entries and exits:
Buy near LVNs below value, sell near HVNs above value, and always watch how price reacts when revisiting these zones.

  4. Fixed vs Variable Volume Profile — Macro and Micro Lenses

• Fixed Range VP: Helps analyze a full move, phase, or structure. Great for identifying historical value zones.

• Visible (Variable) VP: Updates dynamically with your current chart view — perfect for intraday or swing contexts.

Together, they give you both the macro narrative and micro timing.
That’s how institutional traders think — they operate on multiple time horizons, with the same data, just different scale.

   5. The Trader’s Psychology in Volume

One of the best ideas from the book is this:

“Volume shows conviction. Price only shows intent.”

This means you can’t take every breakout seriously unless it’s supported by volume at those prices.
False breakouts often occur in low-volume zones — they look impressive but lack participation.

The book trains you to think less like a retail trader chasing movement, and more like an analyst studying where money is committing.

  6. Applying It to Your Trading

Here’s how I personally started integrating it:

• Use Fixed VP to map the “big picture” — where the market built strong bases.

• Use Visible VP for current plays — especially during trends or post-news reactions.

• Watch how price behaves around POC and Value Area High/Low.

• Look for rejections at LVNs — they often mark smart money entries or exit traps.

It’s not about predicting — it’s about reading.
Reading structure, reading behavior, and seeing how value shifts from one area to another.

   7. What the Book Really Teaches

If you finish the book expecting a plug-and-play system, you’ll be disappointed.
But if you approach it as a manual for market behavior, you’ll realize it’s a complete framework.

It changes your focus from “Where will price go?” to “Where is value forming?” — and that’s a massive mindset shift.

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If you want to go through it yourself, here’s the full version:
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