Low volume node (LVN)

A low volume node (LVN) is a price zone in a volume profile where very little volume traded compared with the levels around it. Price moved through it quickly, and the zone is read as rejection rather than acceptance.

Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026

Definition

In a volume profile, a low volume node is a thin notch: one or more adjacent levels whose volume is far below the neighbouring levels. The market did not stay there. Either it was moving fast through the zone, or one side of the auction was missing and price had to travel to find the other side.

  • Like an HVN, an LVN is relative to its own profile; the same volume could be an LVN on a busy day and a normal level on a quiet one.
  • The LVN between two bulges in a double-distribution profile separates two value areas.
  • A single print is the extreme case: a level visited by only one time bracket.

How traders use it

  • As a break level: when price leaves an HVN and enters an LVN, it usually accelerates, because there is little resting business to slow it.
  • As a target: the far side of an LVN is often the next place where price slows again, at the next HVN.
  • As a decision line between two distributions: which side of the LVN price is accepted on says which value area is in play.
  • With the footprint: an LVN that gets filled with volume on a retest is being repaired; an LVN crossed on stacked imbalances is being confirmed.

In Senzoukria

The 'Volume Profile (session)' overlay shades LVNs when 'Detect HVN / LVN' is enabled, using the 'LVN zone' colour and the 'Node opacity' setting; the 'Market Profile (TPO)' overlay offers the same detection for TPO profiles. The 'Single Prints' overlay marks, bar by bar, the levels whose volume is at most a chosen percentage of the bar's largest level, which is a low-volume threshold on the bar profile rather than a TPO single print. The 'Volume per Level' pane indicator drops when a bar slides through thin levels.

Common mistakes

  • Treating an LVN as support or resistance. It is a zone where price does not stop, which is the opposite reading.
  • Marking LVNs on a profile that is missing data: a gap in the feed looks like an LVN and is not one. Senzoukria leaves gaps visible instead of filling them.
  • Using an absolute volume threshold across instruments; the notch is relative.

This page in other languages

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between an LVN and a single print?
An LVN is a low-volume zone in a volume profile, defined relative to its neighbours. A single print is a Market Profile term: a price row touched by a single time bracket. Every single print is thin, but an LVN can span several rows that were each visited by more than one bracket.
Why do LVNs appear after news releases?
A release moves price faster than the book can refill, so many levels are crossed with little trading. The profile keeps a thin stretch where that happened. Whether price later returns to trade through it is not guaranteed.
Can an LVN turn into an HVN?
Yes, if the market comes back and rotates inside it long enough. That is what 'repairing' the profile means. Once the zone has been filled with volume, the old LVN reading no longer applies.

Keep reading

Strategy researchTest a trading strategy, from observation to challenge rulesDefine an observation, question it with the copilot, write a rule and explore costs, drawdown and fictional challenge limits in an interactive example.Quant · Start hereQuant trading for beginners: from idea to backtestDefine a testable rule, choose suitable data and evaluate later periods after costs.Order flow · HubOrder flow trading: the complete guideThe hub. What order flow is, what it shows — aggression, delta, imbalance, absorption, liquidity — and the tools that read it, each linked to a full guide.