Comprehensive information, including videos, regarding the recent developments for Market Profile® charts are posted below on this page.  If you have any questions regarding Market Profile® Charts charts or any information posted on this page, please email support@linnsoft.com

To download versions of Investor/RT custom geared towards futures trades with Market Profile®  charts, using eSignal, DTNiQ, or IB data feeds, visit here.  To sign up for Investor/RT, click here.  Market Profile® charting is a $20 additional charge per month, which includes a $7 CBOT licensing fee.

• Market Profile Shortcuts

• Market Profile InfoBox Information Explained

• Market Profile InfoBox Buttons Explained

Investor/RT offers a very flexible Market Profile charting capability.  These chart types may be referred to as TPO charts (TPO = "time-price opportunity") or Market Profile charts by other programs and services.  Investor/RT's Market Profile charts are highlighted by the following features:

• Dynamic: All Market Profile charts are dynamic, updating tick by tick (including VA, POC, IB, etc).  The current price is highlighted in red in the scale.
• Playback: The current session, or prior sessions/days can be played back using a variety of options, such as playing back one letter every 0.5 seconds.  A video demonstration of playback is available at the top of this page.
• Multiple Profiles: Up to 29 Profiles/Days can be shown simultaneously side-by-side in a given chart. (example)
• Intraday Profiles: Compose profiles of any number of minutes.  Build separate profiles for overnight data versus RTH (regular trading hours).  Profiles can be split at any letter. (example 1, example 2)
• Multi-Day Profiles: Any number of days/sessions can be combined (up to 40) into a single profile.  Any profile can be merged with the profile to it's right by simply ctrl-clicking on the profile. (example)
• TPO Chart Info Box and Highlighter:  These two features are linked in that the Highlighter is turned on only when the Info Box is on. The Info Box can be seen along the left edge of the chart above. When the Info Box is on, mouse/cursor movements across the chart drive the new Highlighter, highlighting the cursor's row/price and the cursor's letter. The info box provides feedback on the location of the cursor, including profile-specific, row-specific, and letter-specific information. (example) (more info)
• Historical Profiles: Review profiles up to 58 days into the past. (example)
• Horizontal Scrolling: The chart can be scrolled back and forth horizontally using a horizontal scrollbar at the bottom of the chart, or by dragging/panning the chart right or left, or by using the left and right arrow keys on keyboard,
• Vertical Scrolling: The chart can be scrolled up and down vertically using the vertical scrollbar along the right edge of the chart, by dragging/panning the chart up or down, by using the left and right arrow keys on keyboard, or by using the scroll wheel on your mouse.
• Auto-Scrolling: The chart has both automatic and manual scrolling options.  Automatic scrolling ensures that the current price will always remain visible in the chart window.
• Time Per Letter: Each letter may be setup to represent any number of minutes from 1 to 1440, with 30 being the universal default. (example)
• Price Per Row: Each row of letters may represent all realized prices, or a user-specified price range. (example)
• Fonts and Colors: Ability to customize the font, the height range of the letters, and the letter color (including a "rainbow" color which assigns a different color to each letter).
• Letter Shading: A "Shading" option which shades the letters darker as the day progresses (M much darker than A, etc). (example)
• Session Override: A "Session Override" setting that allows the user to view on RTH data for symbols that trade 24 hours.
• Split Letters: An option to split each letter into a separate column is available.  When letters are split, the historical developing VAH, VAL, and POC are charted, so the user may review where these values were during each letter period.  Also, the opening letter of each period is printed in bold to clearly show where each period opened. (example)
• Volume Histogram: A "Volume Histogram" option which draws a subtle histogram behind each row/price, representing the volume traded for that row/price (or price range). (example)
• Start with YZ: A "YZABC" option which makes Y & Z the first two letters/periods of the day as opposed to A & B.  This is a setting that is popular among T-bond traders.
• Divide Columns x 3: A "x 3" option that divides each time period into three columns of ten minutes each showing the price levels reached in each ten minute period comprising one 30 minute period.
• Draw Blocks: An option to "Draw Blocks" instead of letters, along with control of the width of the blocks.  This option works well when combined with the "Shading" option.  Blocks allow much more information to fit on the screen vertically, as they can be drawn much smaller/shorter than letter. (example)
• IB, POC, and VA: Options to draw reference lines for the Initial Balance (IB), the Point of Control (POC) and the Value Area (VA).  These lines each have their own color and width, are labeled with price (optional), and drawn for both the current and previous day/session. (example)
• Reference Lines: Up to 6 optional user-customizable reference lines.  Each reference line has a customizable label (optional) and price value.  The price may be pulled from a V# variable, allowing it to be set in scans or other various places in the software.
• Gridlines: Subtle gridlines may be optionally drawn between each row/price to make it easier to line up the price with the row when showing multiple days. (example)
• Mouse Feedback: Mouse feedback in the title bar showing the price, volume, and date, along with the day's TPO count, the number of TPO's above and below the POC, and the TFF, Q%, and POC values.
• Open & Close Price Indicators - The open and closing prices of each session are marked by a vertical red line to left of each profile (for open) and a red asterisks * to the right of each profile (for close).
• Timeline - An option rainbow colored timeline can be shown along the base of the chart, reflecting how far along time has progressed within the session, and seperating passed time into colored segments representing each letter. (example)
• Special Duration: Dynamic - When this option is selected, the duration of each profiles is then dynamic based on price action.  The user supplies two periods.  The first period represents the minimum number of letters that each profile must contain in order to be complete.  If the second period is considered X, price must break out of the last X bar in order to form a new profile.  For instance, if the periods are 20 and 12, then once the 21st letter begins forming, price is monitored for breakouts of the range formed by the previous 12 letters.  If price breaks out of that range during the 21st letter, then the 21st letter breaks away from the profile and begins it's own profile, which again will build for at least 20 letters before looking for breakouts.

An example of a Market Profile Chart displaying 5 sessions on the S&P E-mini can be seen below...

The Market Profile preference window can be seen below.  The preferences specified in that window pertain to the chart seen above.  The preference window may be accessed by double-clicking inside any chart.

An example with both "Volume Histogram" and "Split" (separated) letters turned on (IB, POC, and VA turned off).  All profiles may be split/separated, or each profile may be split independently.

An example of a merged profile can be seen below.  Profiles can be merged or split at will with a single click.  In this example, 9 days are merged together.  Notice each day is given a unique color in the merged profile.  This chart also demonstrates the display of volume side-by-side with the profile.

An example of a Multi-Day Market Profile (20 days) with each letter representing a day (415 minutes per letter).  Volume Histogram is turned on to view the relative volume for each row of letters.  Again, each day is given a unique color.

An examples of intraday profiles (multiple profiles/day) can be seen below.  This chart is setup to build profiles of 130 minutes.  Since the chart is setup with an override session of RTH (9:30am -4:00pm EST), 130-minute profiles divide the session up into exactly three profiles.  The horizontal scale shows the date for the first profile of each session, and the time for subsequent profiles.  Each intraday session has it's starts with the letter A and has it's own IB, POC, and VA lines.  This profile is built with each letter representing 5 minutes.

Another examples of intraday profiles (multiple profiles/day) can be seen below.  This chart is setup to build profiles of 1020 minutes.  Since this chart is setup for a 24 hour session, the first 1020 minute period covers 4:30pm to 9:30am (the overnight period).  The next profile is automatically terminated at the end of session, even though there are not a full 1020 minute remaining, and results in a profile representing the day session (9:30am to 4:15pm).  This profile was built with each letter representing 30 minutes.

An example of shaded blocks can be seen below.  This requires a color other than "Rainbow" to be selected, the "Shading" checkbox to be checked, and "Draw Blocks" to be checked.  "Gridlines" are also turned on in this example.  The blocks allow much more information to fit on the screen vertically, and the shading retains the "time of day" component to some degree.  The gridlines facilitate matching up rows in the right-most profile with their corresponding prices in the scale on the left.

See Also: Value Area Indicator
See Also: Profile Indicator

The Market Profile is completely dynamic, and displays a horizontally positioned histogram that graphs a time-price relationship for trade in a security. Each half-hour of the day is designated by a letter. If a certain price is traded during a given half-hour, the corresponding letter is marked next to the price. The first half hour (or portion thereof) of trade will be noted with the letter A, the second half-hour will be noted with the letter B, and so on. The open price for the day is marked with the letter O. As price moves up and down each letter is marked only once at each price level.

This method of graphing time spent at each price will often form a bell curve. The most dense portion of the bell curve is called the value area. In general, look for price to gravitate toward the value area and away from the extremes.

The "Show X Profiles Ending Y Days Back" option allows you to create a multiple session Market Profile Chart. You just specify here how many additional sessions you would like to display on the chart window. You may have to resize the window vertically or horizontally to get a proper picture once the multi-session chart is created. Tick data must be available for each session in order to create the Market Profile Chart for that session.

The red asterisks dynamically monitors where the security last traded.  An optional volume histogram can be shown in the background to give an indication of the percentage of volume traded in at each price range level for each session.

Market Profile charts have been enhanced to consider up to 30 sessions of intraday data when composing the profile, in addition to allowing historical viewing of Market Profile charts.  Prior to version 5.4, the profile was limited to 9 sessions.  In the Maket Profile preferences, this functionality is found in the "Show X Profiles ending Y Days Back".  X represents how many days will be profiled, and Y represents how many days back the chart will end.  Y should be set to 0 for live (non-historical) Market Profile charts.  But if you would like to see the profiles for the previous month, for instance, you may choose to "Show 20 days beginning 13 days back".

InfoBox Explanation

The table below explains what is seen in the Market Profile InfoBox on the left side of all Market Profile charts (see image to right) as the cursor/mouse is moved across the chart, over various profiles and letters.  This Info Box can be toggled on/off with the tab key.
 

First Section - Provides information related to each profile (For example, the 10/5 profile)
TPO	- TPO = Time Price Opportunities.  This is the total number of letters in the profile.  If there are 8 D's, that counts as 8 towards the TPO count.
TFF	- Trade Facilitation Factor - Number of total TPO's divided by the range of price for the profile. The higher the value, the less trend was present. Normal days have a high TFF value.
Q%	- Quadrant of Open and Close (%) - This represents the relationship of the first/open and last/close price to the overall range. The value can vary anywhere from 0% (first or last trade at very bottom of range) to 100% (first or last trade at very top of range).
POC	- Point of Control - This represents the price/row in which the most letters reside. It is the widest row. This price was achieved in more 30-minute segments of the day than any other price.
RF	- Rotation Factor - Each letter is given a +1 if it's high is above high of previous letter, and a -1 if it's high is below high of previous letter.  In addition, a +1 or -1 is added based on whether the low was above or below the previous low.  Each letters RF (anywhere from -2 to +2) is summed to provide the RF of the profile.
VLT	- Volatility - Average range of the letters within a given profile
RNG	- Range - Range of price of each profile
VOL	- Volume - Total volume of each profile
Second Section - Provides information related to each price in each profile (For example, 1356.50 in the 10/5 profile)
P	- Price
V	- Volume traded at that price within that given profile.
TPO	- Number of TPOs/letters at that price in that profile.
Third Section - Provides information related to each letter in each profile (For example, all the D's in the 10/5 profile)
LET	- Letter (represents all matching letters in the profile)
D	- Delta of the period covered by the letter
H	- High of period covered by the letter
L	- Low of period covered by the letter
V	- Volume trading during the period covered by the letter
RNG	- Range of price of the letter
Fourth Section - Provides information related to each TPO (individual letter) in each profile (For example, the singled D at 1356.50 in the 10/5 profile)
TPO	- Shows the letter and price (represents a single letter or tpo, a single price & time opportunity)
V	- Volume of that TPO
BA	- Bid x Ask Volume of that TPO (volume traded at bid vs volume traded at ask)
D	- Delta of that TPO

InfoBox Buttons

This section describes what happens when clicking on the various buttons that are seen at the bottom of the InfoBox section of Market Profile charts.

 

~Sym	- Change Symbol of the chart
Ref	- Toggle the "Reference Lines" on or off.
Color	- Cycles through the various letter color options available.
BG	- Cycles through various background colors
Grd	- Toggles the gridlines on and off
Block	- Toggles "Draw Blocks" on and off.  "Draw Blocks" draws squares in place of letters.
IB	- Toggles the IB (Initial Balance) lines on and off
OR	- Toggles the OR (Opening Range) lines on and off
Sng	- Toggles the Single lines on and off
POC	- Toggles the POC (Point of Control) lines on and off
POCvo	- Toggles the POCvo (volume-based Point of Control) lines on and off
VA	- Toggles the VA (Value Area) lines on and off
VAvo	- Toggles the VAvo (volume-based Value Area) lines on and off
Sp	- Toggles the Split Letters on and off
Sc	- Scale - Cycles between scale on left, scale on right, and scale on right and left
Vo	- Toggles the Volume (or Trade) Bars on and off
Li	- Cycles between 5 states: Thick Vert Lines Left of Profie, Thick Vert Lines Right of Profile, Thick Vert Lines IB Left VA Right, Thin Vert Lines w/ Hor Lines (no Lables), and Thin Vert Lines w/ Hor Lines (with Labels)
More	- Brings up the preference window
>	- Playback Play
||	- Playback Pause
+	- Playback Advance One
x	- Playback Stop/End

Keyboard Shortcuts for Market Profile Charts
 

Keystroke	Resulting Action	Notes
Up Arrow	Scroll Chart Up One Row	Only has effect when chart is too big vertically for visible window.
Down Arrow	Scroll Chart Down One Row
Right Arrow	Scroll Chart Forward One Day/Profile	Decreases the "X" in "Show X Profiles/Days" by one
Left Arrow	Scroll Chart Back One Day/Profile	Increases the "X" in "Show X Profiles/Days" by one
Shift-Right Arrow	Scroll Chart Forward One Day/Profile	Decreases the "X" in "Ending X Days Back" by one
Shift-Left Arrow	Scroll Chart Back One Day/Profile	Increases the "X" in "Ending X Days Back" by one
Shift-Up Arrow	Zoom In Vertically	Increases the "Show Height Range" values by one
Shift-Down Arrow	Zoom Out Vertically	Decreases the "Show Height Range" values by one
Ctrl-Up Arrow	Zoom In Horizontally	Increases "Block Width" by one. (for "Show Blocks" only)
Ctrl-Down Arrow	Zoom Out Horizontally	Decreases "Block Width" by one. (for "Show Blocks" only)
Ticker Symbol - Enter	Changes to that Ticker Symbol	Type in a new ticker symbol (like "MSFT") then hit Enter
Esc	Close the Chart	The Escape key can be used to close most all windows types
Ctrl-Enter	Open Chart Preferences	The Ctrl-Enter combination will open prefs on most all windows
Double-click	Open Chart Preferences	Double-click anywhere inside the chart window
Shift-Click	Toggles Splits	Toggles Splitting of Letters for Profile clicked on
Ctrl-Click	Merges Profile Right	Merges the Profile clicked on with the one to it's right
Ctrl-Shift-Click	Removes Splits/Merges	Removes any splitting or merging from the chart
Shift-Move	Crosshairs/Highlighter	Hold down the shift-key while moving cursor across chart.  This only works when the InfoBox is active.
Shift-Click "Block"	Cycles Through Fonts	Hold down the shift-key while clicking on the "Block" button in the InfoBox to cycle through all the available fonts.

New Features in version 7.1
Several features were added to the Market Profile charts in version 7.1. First, an option was added that gives the user the ability to provide a "Row Height Range" in pixels. This range controls the minimum and maximum height of each row of letters (or blocks). These settings can also now be controlled directly from the keyboard, thereby simulating a "zooming" effect. Use the "Shift-Up" combination to zoom in, and the "Shift-Down" combination to zoom out. Using the up and down arrows alone continue to "scroll" the chart vertically. Also, each row can now be as small as 2 pixels high, allowing the user to fit much more vertically in the chart window. In order to achieve or prevent the rows from becoming this small, adjust the lower limit of the "Row Height Range".

An option was added to "Draw Blocks" as opposed to letters. This can be an effective option when combined with the "Rainbow" color, or the "Shading" option. Also, when the "Draw Blocks" option is checked, a "Block Width" setting is honored which controls the width (in pixels) of each block. This, in effect, gives the user a horizontal zooming capability to go along with the new vertical zooming discussed above. The Block Width can be adjusted directly from the keyboard using the "Ctrl-Up Arrow" (zoom in) or "Ctrl-Down Arrow" (zoom out) combinations.

The following statistics are now displayed in the title bar when the cursor is placed over any specific profile:

• TPO - "That Price Occurred" or "Time Price Opportunity"- It is a count of the number of "letters" that appear in a profile (within a given session).

• TFF - Trade Facilitation Factor - Number of total TPO's divided by the range of price.  The higher the value, the less trend was present. Normal days have a high TFF value.

• Q% - Quadrant of Close (%) - This represents the relationship of the last/close price to the overall range.  The value can vary anywhere from 0% (last trade at very bottom of range) to 100% (last trade at very top of range).

• POC - Point of Control - This represents the price/row in which the most letters reside.  It is the widest row.  This price was achieved in more 30-minute segments of the day than any other price.

New Features in version 8.0.1
Multi-Day Profiles - Any number of days/sessions (up to 40) can now be combined into a single profile.  In addition, the "minutes per letter" setting will now accept up to 1440 minutes.  This allows users to setup profiles in which each letter represents a day, with up to 40 days being represented.  The user would need to setup the "letters per minute" to match the "minutes per session" (390 for standard RTH session).  However, the Multi-Day Profile option will work with any "minutes per letter" including the common 30.

Reference Lines - Up to 6 optional user-customizable reference lines are now available.  Each reference line has a customizable label (optional) and price value.  The price may be pulled from a V# variable, allowing it to be set inside scans or other various places in the software.

To turn on a reference line, simply check one of the reference line checkboxes, and supply the "label" text along with the price.  Prices may be specified as V# variables by simply typing "V#1", or V#34",etc. instead of a numerical value.  All reference lines share the same color, width, and style, which is specified just below the reference line checkboxes.  Labels and/or prices may be suppressed by checking the corresponding "Hide Labels" or "Hide Price" checkboxes.  Reference lines will span the entire width of the chart, from the scale to the right edge, with the label being displayed next to the right edge.

Automatic Scaling:  Market Profile charts now have a small uppercase letter the the upper left corner of the scale, similar that the one seen in the upper right corner of the scales of traditional charts.  This letter is either an "M" or an "A" depending on whether the chart is in Manual or Automatic scaling mode.  Automatic scaling ensures that the current price is always in view when the chart is too large vertically to fit completely within the visible window.  The chart will auto-scroll when necessary to make sure this condition is met.  When the chart is in Manual scaling mode, the chart will not be automatically scrolled and the current price may wonder outside the visible window.  Manual scaling is good for reviewing past data.

Users may toggle between the two modes by simply clicking on the letter.  The letter acts as a toggle button.  Click on the A and it becomes an M.  Click on the M and it becomes an A.  The chart will always initially open in Automatic scaling mode.  Whenever the user scrolls the chart vertically (using the up or down arrow keys), the chart will be forced into Manual scaling mode and will remain so until the user clicks the "M" to toggle it back to "A" (or automatic scaling mode).

New Features in version 8.1
TPO Chart Info Box and Highlighter
TPO Charts have been enhanced with an optional Info Box and Highlighter. The two feature are linked in that the Highlighter is turned on only when the Info Box is on. A check box has been added to the TPO preference window titled "Info Box" along an entry box for the width of the Info Box. The Info Box will appear to the left of the vertical scale, on the far left edge of the chart. When the Info Box is on, mouse/cursor movements across the chart drive the new Highlighter, highlighting the cursor's row/price and the cursor's letter. For instance, if the cursor was over the letter "C" at the price of 1125.75, then all the C's in that profile would be highlighted, along with all the letters in the row of price 1125.75. As the cursor is moved over a new letter, the highlighter responds dynamically.

The Info Box provides information related to the position of the cursor/highlighter. The information is grouped into three sections. The top section provides information related to the profile over which the cursor resides. The middle section provides information related to the row/price of the cursor. And the lower section provides information related to the letter over which the cursor resides. The profile information includes date/time, TPO count (TPO), TFF, Q%, POC, Rotation Factor (RF), Volatility (VLT), Range (RNG), and volume (VOL). The price/row information includes price (P), volume (V), and TPO count (TPO). The letter information includes the letter, the time of the letter, the high of the letter (H), the low of the letter (L), and the range of the letter (RNG).

These new TPO features will be turned "on" when you upgrade to version 8.1.4. Existing TPO charts will open with the InfoBox displayed and newly created TPO charts will open by default with the InfoBox in view. The tab key can be used to quickly toggle the Info Box (and the Highlighter) off and on. A Toggle InfoBox menu item is also available in the TPO popup menu for this purpose. If you want newly created TPO charts to appear without the InfoBox, adjust your default preferences using Setup: Preferences: Charts: TPO...