Acceptance and rejection (price)
In auction market theory, a price is accepted when the market spends time and trades volume there, building value around it, and rejected when the market leaves it quickly with little trade. The distinction decides whether a move beyond a reference level, such as the previous value area or a range edge, is the start of new value or a probe that failed.
Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026
The evidence for each
| Evidence | Acceptance | Rejection |
|---|---|---|
| Time | Several brackets trade at the new prices | One bracket or less, then price leaves |
| Volume | Volume builds; a new node may form | Thin volume; single prints or a tail |
| Order flow | Two-sided trade, the book refills at the new prices | Aggression absorbed, fast return |
| Value | The developing value area moves toward the new prices | Value stays where it was |
Practical tests
Acceptance is judged by time and volume, and any threshold is a convention. Many practitioners want to see price hold beyond a reference for at least one or two full brackets before calling it accepted; others look for the developing point of control or value area to move there. What matters is to fix the rule before looking at the outcome, and to count the failures as well as the successes.
A worked example
The previous session's value area high is 5,020.00. Case one: in brackets C, D and E, price trades between 5,021.00 and 5,025.00, three letters accumulate at 5,022.00 to 5,024.00 and the developing value area high moves up to 5,023.00. The higher prices are being accepted. Case two: in bracket B, price spikes to 5,026.00 on single prints and returns inside the old value area within the same bracket, leaving a tail. The higher prices were rejected, and the old value area remains the reference.
Order flow at the moment of the test
- Acceptance often shows as aggressive volume beyond the level followed by two-sided trade, rather than a single burst.
- Rejection often shows as aggression that is absorbed at the new prices, a delta that does not produce price progress, then a fast return.
- A move beyond the level on very little volume is not yet a test; neither side has committed.
In Senzoukria
The Market Profile (TPO) overlay shows acceptance in time: with 'TPO letters' the number of brackets beyond a level can be counted, and 'Single prints & tails' marks rows visited by only one bracket. Its 'Volume per bracket visit' profile type divides executed volume by the number of bracket visits, which, as its hint says, separates aggression, a lot in few visits, from rotation, a little in many. Session VAH/VAL (developing) and Session POC (developing) show value moving or staying put, and Value Area Position % places each bar's close relative to that bar's own value area, above 100% when it closes above it.
Related
- Auction market theory
- Failed auction
- Excess
- Value migration
- Value Area Position % indicator
- Initiative activity
In the same section
- Spike
- Activation fee
- Absorption
- Adverse selection
- 80% rule
- Aggregated vs order-by-order
- 25Δ risk reversal
- Aggregated trades
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Frequently asked questions
- How long must price stay beyond a level to count as accepted?
- There is no rule set by the theory. One or two full thirty-minute brackets, or a developing value area that moves, are common working definitions. Choose one, apply it consistently and measure how often acceptance by that definition was followed by continuation.
- Is a tail the same as rejection?
- A tail, single prints at an extreme, is the profile's record of a rejection that happened quickly: the market reached those prices and left before a second bracket could trade there. Rejection can also be slower, when price stays briefly beyond a level on thin volume before returning.