POC migration
POC migration is the movement of the point of control from one bar to the next, measured as the distance in ticks between consecutive bar POCs. Small, repeated migrations describe a market holding a price; a burst of large migrations describes a market moving to find a new level where volume can be done.
Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026
Computation
Each bar has a point of control, the level with the highest total volume, with ties resolved to the lower price. POC migration for bar t is |POC(t) − POC(t−1)| expressed in ticks. Because the levels are tick indices, the subtraction is integer arithmetic and carries no rounding error. The first bar of a series has no previous POC and therefore no value; a bar without volume also has no value, and a chart whose instrument has no known tick size cannot express the distance at all.
- Migration is unsigned: it says how far, not in which direction.
- Drift is the signed variant, POC(t) − POC(t−1), positive when the POC moved up.
- Both are in ticks of the chart grid, so a wider grouping step produces smaller numbers for the same price move.
What a migration series shows
- A run of values near zero: consecutive bars keep doing their business at the same price. Together with a flat volume profile node, this is the footprint view of balance.
- Values that step up bar after bar in one direction on the drift version: the market is relocating its heaviest trade along with price, which is what a trend looks like from the volume side.
- A single large migration after a run of small ones: price left the accepted level. Whether it is accepted at the new one is decided by the following bars, not by the jump itself.
- Migration that shrinks while price keeps extending: the extension is happening on thinner volume than the earlier bars, a reading the volume profile guide describes as moving through low-volume areas.
In Senzoukria
POC Migration (ticks) and POC Drift (ticks) are two pane indicators of the catalogue. POC Migration belongs to the Volume group and plots the absolute distance; POC Drift belongs to the Tape & flow group and plots the signed one. Both use the same tie rule as POC Position %, ties to the lower price, so the three indicators measure the same level. Each has a colour and a smoothing setting; smoothing averages the series over N bars and is off at 1.
The indicators need a feed with per-level volume, which is the case on Rithmic, on the bridges, on Databento history and on the crypto screen. On sources that deliver only OHLC bars, they stay empty.
Common mistakes
- Reading the unsigned migration as a direction. Use POC Drift when the sign matters.
- Comparing migration values between a 1-tick grouping and a 4-tick grouping; the unit is the grid tick, not the contract tick.
- Treating one large migration as a breakout signal. A single bar can print its POC at an extreme because of one large trade.
Related
This page in other languages
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between POC migration and POC drift?
- Migration is the absolute distance between consecutive bar POCs, always zero or positive. Drift is the same distance with its sign, positive when the POC moved to a higher price. Migration is convenient for measuring how much the market is searching; drift is convenient for seeing which way.
- Why does the indicator show nothing on the first bar or on some bars?
- It needs two consecutive POCs and a known tick size. The first bar has no predecessor, a bar with no traded volume has no POC, and an instrument without a tick size in the catalogue cannot express a distance in ticks. In each case Senzoukria leaves the value empty instead of writing zero.