Buying and selling pressure
Buying and selling pressure describe how much aggressive buying or selling is present relative to the other side, and where in the price range it happens. Different measures locate that pressure by the point of control, by the middle of the bar or by where the bar closed.
Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026
Three ways to locate pressure
A bar's total delta says who did more. Pressure measures add a second question: where. Aggressive buying far above the value of the bar means buyers were willing to pay away from the fairest price, which is a stronger statement than the same buying at the point of control. Each measure picks a pivot and compares the two sides around it.
| Measure | Pivot | Computation |
|---|---|---|
| Buy/Sell Pressure Ratio | Point of control (volume) | Σ ask volume above POC ÷ Σ bid volume below POC |
| Aggression Ratio | Midpoint of the range (geometry) | Σ ask volume above mid ÷ Σ bid volume below mid |
| Balance of Power | Open and close | (close − open) ÷ (high − low), averaged over N bars |
How to read the ratios
- Pressure ratio above one: buyers aggressed above the value area more than sellers aggressed below it. An accepted extension upward.
- Pressure ratio below one: the mirror. Sellers paid away from value.
- The POC level itself is excluded from both sums, since it is the pivot; including it would tilt the ratio by the heaviest level of the bar.
- When the POC sits on the low, the POC-pivoted and mid-pivoted ratios answer different questions, and comparing them is where the reading becomes informative.
- Balance of Power uses no aggressor data at all. It reads where the bar closed inside its range and needs a range: a bar with high equal to low contributes nothing.
In Senzoukria
Buy/Sell Pressure Ratio and Aggression Ratio are pane indicators in the Tape & flow group. Both use strict comparisons around their pivot, and both return no value when the denominator is empty: a bar with no aggressive selling below the pivot has no reference, and dividing by zero is not infinity. Balance of Power sits in the Momentum group with a default window of 14 bars and a simple moving average, following the original definition; bars with no range are dropped from the average rather than counted as zero.
The POC used by the pressure ratio is the level with the highest volume, and a tie goes to the lower price, the same rule as Sierra Chart's setting.
Misreadings to avoid
- Treating a ratio as a probability. It describes the geometry of one bar, not the odds of the next.
- Reading Balance of Power as an order flow measure. It is a price-based oscillator that works on plain OHLC.
- Ignoring volume. A ratio of two tiny sums looks the same as a ratio of two large ones.
- Expecting a value on every bar. A missing value means the measure had no reference, and that is information too.
Related
- Buy/Sell Pressure Ratio indicator
- Aggression Ratio indicator
- Balance of Power indicator
- Order flow trading guide
- Aggressor
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Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between buying pressure and positive delta?
- Positive delta means ask volume exceeded bid volume over the whole bar. Buying pressure measures usually add location: buying above the point of control or above the midpoint counts, buying at the low does not. A bar can have positive delta and a pressure ratio below one if the buying happened at the bottom of the range.
- Which pressure indicator should I use?
- It depends on the question. The POC-pivoted ratio asks who paid away from value; the mid-range ratio asks who paid in the upper or lower half of the bar; Balance of Power asks where the bar closed relative to its range. They are designed to be read together rather than to replace each other.