Market Profile

Market Profile MetaTrader indicator — is a classic Market Profile implementation that can show the
price density over time, outlining the most important price levels, value area, and control value of a
given trading session. This indicator can be attached to timeframes between M1 and D1 and will
show the Market Profile for daily, weekly, monthly, or even intraday sessions. Lower timeframes offer
higher precision. Higher timeframes are recommended for better visibility. It is also possible to use a
free-draw rectangle session to create a custom market profile on any timeframe. Six different color
schemes are available to draw the profile's blocks. Drawing profiles as a plain color histogram is also
possible. Alternatively, you may choose to color the profile based on bullish/bearish bars. This
indicator is based on bare price action and does not use any standard indicators. It is available for
MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and cTrader platforms.
A system of alerts is available for price crossing the levels of Value Area high and low, Median, and
Single Print zones.

Input parameters
Main
​ Session (default = Daily) — trading session for market profile: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Intraday,
and Rectangle. For a rectangle session to get calculated, a rectangle chart object with the
name starting with MPR should be added to the chart. Pressing 'r' on the keyboard will add a
properly named rectangle object automatically.
​ StartFromDate (default = __DATE__) — if StartFromCurrentSession is false, then the indicator
will start drawing profiles from this date. It draws to the past. For example, if you set it
2018-01-20 and SessionsToCount is 2, then it will draw the profiles for 2018-01-20 and
2018-01-19.
​ StartFromCurrentSession (default = true) — if true, then the indicator starts drawing from
today, else — from the date given in StartFromDate.
​ SessionsToCount (default = 2) — for how many trading sessions to draw the market profiles.
​ SeamlessScrollingMode (default = false) — if true, the StartFromDate and
StartFromCurrentSession parameters are ignored; the sessions are calculated and displayed
starting from the current chart position's rightmost bar. This allows scrolling back in time
indefinitely to view past sessions.
​ EnableDevelopingPOC (default = false) — if true, multiple horizontal lines will be drawn to
depict how the Point of Control developed through the session.
​ ValueAreaPercentage (default = 70) — a percentage share of the session's TPOs to include in
the Value Area.
Looks and colors
​ ColorScheme (default = Blue to Red) — color scheme for profile's blocks:
​ blue to red
​ red to green
​ green to blue
​ yellow to cyan
​ magenta to yellow
​ cyan to magenta
​ SingleColor (default = clrBlue) — if ColorScheme is set to Single Color, this color will be used
to draw market profiles.
​ ColorBullBear (default = false) — if true, the color of the profile blocks depends not on the age
of the origin bar but on its direction.
​ MedianColor (default = clrWhite) — the color of the control value (median).
​ ValueAreaSidesColor (default = clrWhite) — the color of the value area side borders.
​ ValueAreaHighLowColor (default = clrWhite) — the color of the value area top and bottom
borders.
​ MedianStyle (default = STYLE_SOLID) — the Point of Control (median) line style.
​ MedianRayStyle (default = STYLE_DASH) — the Point of Control (median) ray line style.
​ ValueAreaSidesStyle (default = STYLE_SOLID) — the style of the value area side borders.
​ ValueAreaHighLowStyle (default = STYLE_SOLID) — the style of the value area top and
bottom borders.
​ ValueAreaRayHighLowStyle (default = STYLE_DOT) — the style of the value area top and
bottom rays.
​ MedianWidth (default = 1) — the Point of Control (median) line width.
​ MedianRayWidth (default = 1) — the Point of Control (median) ray line width.
​ ValueAreaSidesWidth (default = 1) — the width of the value area side borders.
​ ValueAreaHighLowWidth (default = 1) — the width of the value area top and bottom borders.
​ ValueAreaRayHighLowWidth (default = 1) — the width of the value area top and bottom rays.
​ ShowValueAreaRays (default = None) — can be set so that the value area's High and Low
price levels are projected to the right side of the chart. Can be set to previous session, current,
previous and current, all previous, or all.
​ ShowMedianRays (default = None) — can be set so that the median is projected to the right
side of the chart. Can be set to previous session, current, previous and current, all previous, or
all.
​ RaysUntilIntersection (default = Stop_No_Rays) — defines the way median and value area
rays will be cut off when they meet the next trading session's price range:
​ Stop_No_Rays — no rays are stopped anywhere.
​ Stop_All_Rays — all rays are stopped at an intersection with the price of another
session.
​ Stop_All_Rays_Except_Prev_Session — all rays except the previous session's rays are
stopped at an intersection with the price of another session.
​ Stop_Only_Previous_Session — only rays of the previous session are stopped at an
intersection with the price of another session.
​ HideRaysFromInvisibleSessions (default = false) — if true, rays from sessions starting behind
the left edge of the screen won't be displayed until you scroll back to them.
​ TimeShiftMinutes (default = 0) — time shift for the sessions, in minutes. Positive value will
move the session start to the left; negative — to the right.
​ ShowKeyValues (default = true) — if true, Value Area High, Value Area Low, and Point of
Control are displayed on the left of the market profile.
​ KeyValuesColor (default = clrWhite) — the color for Value Area High, Value Area Low, and
Point of Control printout.
​ KeyValuesSize (default = 8) — the font size for Value Area High, Value Area Low, and Point of
Control printout.
​ ShowSinglePrint (default = No) — can be set to Leftside or Rightside and will mark the single
print profile — a part of the profile, which is only one TPO wide.
​ SinglePrintRays (default = false) — if true, single print edges are marked with rays.
​ SinglePrintColor (default = clrGold) — the color for single print marking if ShowSinglePrint isn't
set to No.
​ SinglePrintRayStyle (default = STYLE_SOLID) — the single print ray line style.
​ SinglePrintRayWidth (default = 1) — the single print ray line width.
​ ProminentMedianColor (default = clrYellow) — the color for the prominent median (PPOC) if
ProminentMedianPercentage is set to 100 or less.
​ ProminentMedianStyle (default = STYLE_SOLID) — the style for the prominent median
(PPOC) if ProminentMedianPercentage is set to 100 or less.
​ ProminentMedianWidth (default = 4) — the width for the prominent median (PPOC) if
ProminentMedianPercentage is set to 100 or less.
​ RightToLeft (default = false) — if true, the current session's market profile has its histogram
drawn from right to left. In case Session is set to Rectangle, market profiles of all sessions are
drawn right-to-left.
Performance
​ PointMultiplier (default = 0) — the higher it is, the wider are the profile's price boxes and the
fewer are the chart objects. You can use it to reduce the indicator's load on CPU. When the
value is zero, an adaptive multiplier is used — the indicator attempts to calculate the optimal
value automatically.
​ ThrottleRedraw (default = 0) — a delay in seconds that will be applied before each redraw of
the profiles. You can use it to reduce the indicator's load on CPU.
​ DisableHistogram (default = false) — if true, no market profile histogram is drawn, but Value
Area and Median are still marked. This makes indicator work extremely fast, but is less useful
for thorough market analysis.

Alerts
​ AlertNative (default = false) — if true, the indicator will issue the platform's native pop-up alert
when some alert conditions are met.
​ AlertEmail (default = false) — if true, MetaTrader's email alerts will be sent when some alert
conditions are met. Email should be properly configured in MetaTrader via
Tools->Options->Email
​ AlertPush (default = false) — if true, MetaTrader's push notification alerts will be sent to your
mobile device when some alert conditions are met. Notifications should be properly configured
in MetaTrader via Tools->Options->Notifications. This alert type is not available in the cTrader
version of the indicator.
​ AlertArrows (default = false) — if true, MetaTrader will draw arrows on the chart when some
alert conditions are met.
​ AlertCheckBar (default = Previous) — controls the bar to check the alert conditions on. Current
— the indicator will check the current unfinished bar; expect a lot of alerts. Previous — the
indicator will check the previous (closed) bar; alerts will be delayed but more concise.
​ AlertForValueArea (default = false) — if true, alerts will be issued whenever a Value Area ray
(high or low) is crossed by the price.
​ AlertForMedian (default = false) — if true, alerts will be issued whenever a Median ray is
crossed by the price.
​ AlertForSinglePrint (default = false) — if true, alerts will be issued whenever a Single Print ray
is crossed by the price.
​ AlertOnPriceBreak (default = false) — if true, alerts will be issued when the price breaks any of
the trigger levels but then returns back behind it.
​ AlertOnBarClose (default = false) — if true, alerts will be issued when the bar opens on one
side the trigger level and closes on the other side of it.
​ AlertOnGapCross (default = false) — if true, alerts will be issued when the trigger level
appears inside a price gap between the last two bars.
​ AlertArrowCodePB (default = 108) — arrow code for price break alert arrows.
 ​ AlertArrowCodeCC (default = 110) — arrow code for candle close alert arrows.
​ AlertArrowCodeGC (default = 117) — arrow code for gap crossover alert arrows.
​ AlertArrowColorPB (default = clrRed) — arrow color for price break alert arrows.
​ AlertArrowColorCC (default = clrBlue) — arrow color for candle close alert arrows.
​ AlertArrowColorGC (default = clrYellow) — arrow color for gap crossover alert arrows.
​ AlertArrowWidthPB (default = 1) — arrow width for price break alert arrows.
​ AlertArrowWidthCC (default = 1) — arrow width for candle close alert arrows.
​ AlertArrowWidthGC (default = 1) — arrow width for gap crossover alert arrows.

Intraday sessions
​ EnableIntradaySessionN (default = true) — if true and Session is set to Intraday, then the
indicator will attempt to drawn the intraday market profile #N on the chart.
​ IntradaySessionNStartTime (default = "HH:MM") — start time in HH:MM format for the intraday
session #N.
​ IntradaySessionNEndTime (default = "HH:MM") — end time in HH:MM format for the intraday
session #N.
​ IntradaySessionNColorScheme (default = Blue_to_Red) — color scheme for the intraday
session #N.

Miscellaneous
​ SaturdaySunday (default = Normal sessions) — how to treat Saturday and Sunday sessions:
​ Normal sessions — Saturday and Sunday will be treated as normal sessions with their
own daily and intraday sessions.
​ Ignore Saturday and Sunday — Saturday and Sunday candlesticks will be ignored.
​ Append Saturday and Sunday — Saturday candlesticks will be appended to the Friday
session; Sunday candlesticks will be appended to the Monday session.
​ DisableAlertsOnWrongTimeframes (default = false) — if true, no pop-up alerts will appear on
using Market Profile with wrong timeframe/session combination.
​ ProminentMedianPercentage (default = 101) — percentage of TPOs out of all possible that
should occur inside a median for it to be considered prominent (PPOC). For example, if you
set it to 50%, a median will be marked as prominent if it contains at least 24 TPOs in a daily
session on M30 timeframe. If it is set to 101, no prominent median is possible.
Examples
Daily sessions
The chart screenshot shows market profiles calculated and displayed for two daily Forex trading
sessions. The timeframe is M30 and the right-hand daily session is still in progress. The earliest
prices are blue and the latest prices are red. The medians and the value areas are marked with the
white lines and display the most important price areas. Traders tend to return to those areas if the
volume of the breakout movement is not too high. High-volume breakout out of these areas signifies a
real breakout. You can read more about Market Profile in this short e-book: Book on Market Profile.
Bullish/bearish coloring
The example below demonstrates how the Market Profile can be colored according to the direction of
each bar in the session rather than its age. This is done when ColorBullBear is set to true.
Rectangle sessions
This example demonstrates how the indicator can display a market profile based on the rectangle
chart objects freely drawn by a trader. For this to work, a rectangle object's name has to start with
MPR and the Session input parameter has to be set to Rectangle. You can press 'r' on your keyboard
to add such a rectangle to the chart automatically.
Right-to-left display
Market Profile indicator can also draw histogram from right to left. Unlike the traditional left-to-right
display, it can be helpful to focus on the current trading session, without obscuring its chart. You can
see how this works on the chart screenshot below.
cTrader
Market Profile indicator is also available as a free cTrader indicator. It is very similar to its MetaTrader
siblings, but cannot work with push notification alerts.
How to use Market Profile in
Forex trading?
Market Profile indicator is a powerful tool developed by a CBOT trader. Its original purpose was to
graphically organize price and time information obtained during a trading session in a manner useful
to traders. Today's Forex market is quite different from what commodity futures trading was back in
1985 when Peter Steidlmayer introduced his charting instrument to the public. Can Market Profile be
a useful tool to Forex traders?

Issues with Forex

The main difference between today's currency market and the futures market of 80's is the lack of
daily trading sessions. Fortunately, it does not produce any real problems. The lack of strict daily
close and daily open can be compensated by one of the following methods:
​ A rolling 24-hour window for Market Profile calculation. Each new bar, the Market Profile
calculation window is shifted right by one bar as well. This way, a trader is always looking for
the graphical profile of the recent 24 hours of trading. Unfortunately, this would require a
complete recalculation of the whole curve with every new bar arriving. Still, this can be
accomplished by using the Rectangle session type in our Market Profile indicator.
​ Smaller geographically-bound time windows. The Forex market operates through several
widely recognized trading sessions. The most prominent of them are: London, New York, and
Tokyo. A trader operating mainly inside the New York trading session could use a 10-hour
window based on the NY open and close to calculate and display Market Profile. A trader
operating within a mix of New York and Asian sessions could use the span of both. The good
thing is that with this method, the calculation process is much simpler than with a rolling
window. The bad thing is that it ignores all the market data that is left outside of the target
trading sessions.
​ Weekly trading sessions. Unlike days, the weeks in Forex are clearly defined. The minor
difference of Sunday/Monday open and Friday/Saturday close between different brokers and
liquidity providers is small enough to ignore (one or two hours of thin-volume trading). Weekly
Market Profile is easy to calculate and offers a lot of data to traders. However, it is rarely
suitable to short-term intraday traders, less so to scalpers.
Apparently, it is still possible to apply Market Profile to modern foreign exchange market. The most
consistent approach seems to be the third one, which is based on weekly sessions.
Another important issue to solve when using this indicator in analysis is whether to apply it to the
current session — and suffer from the lack of data during the early hours — or to the previous
session, which could be based on stale data. In reality, this is no issue at all. As outlined in the
CBOT's A Six-Part Guide to Market Profile, the most important profile is based on the current session,
but the profile built during the previous one is also relevant and should be analyzed by a trader.
Moreover, it is possible (and useful) to look at several previous profiles at once, analyzing how the
trend developed across more than one value area. The multi-session Market Profile analysis is also a
key to detecting long-term areas of balance and states of imbalance. In fact, long-term traders should
be looking at Market Profiles of many sessions to determine possible points of entry and exits.
The following example shows Market Profile calculated for six weekly sessions of the EUR/USD
currency pair:

Usage
As the indicator's author stated, the Market Profile should not be used as a buy/sell signal generator.
It is a tool for analyzing the market and getting information that isn't evident from a bare chart. Here is
how the main parts of the Market Profile can be used in Forex trading:
Value area — the area of market acceptance. The price spent a hefty amount of time at those levels
— the market likes it. The edges of the value area form strong support and resistance levels.
Median — the middle of the value area offers a strong pivot point. It serves both as the attractor for
the price and as the bounce level. The median is also called a fair price. If market is below the level, it
is considered undervalued. If it is above the median, it is overvalued.
Areas of low volume — the long tails below and above the value area show the price areas rejected
by the market. The bottom tail is telling us of long-term buyers outperforming long-term sellers at
those price levels. The top tail is telling us about the long-term sellers doing better than buyers at the
respective price levels.
Even if you aren't a regular user of Market Profile indicator and your main trading strategy is based on
a different concept or if your strategies are either automated with expert advisors or use fundamental
indicators, you can still consult the long-term market profiles in times of doubt when lacking accurate
information on where to put an entry order, take-profit, or stop-loss.