Value migration
Value migration is the movement of the value area and point of control from one period to the next, or within a period as the developing profile shifts. It is the profile-based way of seeing that the market has changed the prices it considers fair, rather than simply moving price through them.
Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026
Two time scales
Between periods, value migration compares today's value area with yesterday's: higher, lower, overlapping or completely separate. Overlapping value on consecutive sessions is the signature of balance; value that steps higher or lower each day is the signature of a trend seen through the profile.
Within a period, migration is what the developing profile does as the session unfolds. The POC and the value area edges move as volume accumulates at new prices. A point of control that stays put while price ranges around it reads differently from one that jumps to a new node halfway through the day.
Reading a bar or a session against value
- Close above the value area high: the bar finished above the zone where about 70% of its volume traded, a rejection upward or acceptance in progress higher.
- Close below the value area low: the mirror case.
- Close near the middle of value: nothing to conclude from position alone.
- Over several bars, a steady drift of the value area in one direction is migration; a value area that widens without moving is price discovery within balance.
In Senzoukria
The Value Area Position % indicator computes, per bar, (close − VAL) / (VAH − VAL) × 100 using the same Steidlmayer value area as Value Area Width (70% by default, two-tick steps, ties resolved upward per the ATAS rule). The value is deliberately not bounded to 0–100: the app's description states that leaving that interval is precisely the signal, a close above 100% being a bar that finished above its value area.
For the session-level view, Session POC (developing) traces the point of control of the cumulated profile since the 17:00 CT open, which is literally the migration path of the POC, and Session VAH/VAL (developing) draws the moving edges. POC Migration (ticks) gives the absolute distance between consecutive bar POCs. In the app's words, a run of small migrations means the point of control holds; a burst of large ones means the market is looking for a new acceptance level.
Common mistakes
- Reading migration from price alone. Price can travel far while value barely moves, which is the balance case, or move little while value shifts.
- Comparing value areas built on different periods or different tick sizes. The developing indicators require a known tick size; without it they leave gaps instead of guessing.
- Ignoring the tie rule. When two levels have equal volume the POC goes to the lower price (the Sierra convention the app uses), so a nominal migration of one level can be a tie flip.
- Treating a widening value area as migration. Width and position are separate measures, and the app exposes both.
Related
- Value Area Position %
- Session POC (developing)
- POC Migration (ticks)
- Volume profile explained
- Double distribution
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Frequently asked questions
- What does it mean when value migrates higher?
- It means the band of prices where most of the volume trades has moved up compared with the previous period or the earlier part of the current one. The market is accepting higher prices, not merely visiting them. Whether that continues is read from the next period's profile; migration describes what has already happened.
- How does Senzoukria show value migration?
- With the Session POC (developing) and Session VAH/VAL (developing) overlays, which draw the point of control and value area edges of the cumulated session profile as they move, and with two pane indicators: Value Area Position %, which places each bar's close relative to its value area, and POC Migration (ticks), which measures the jump between consecutive bar POCs. All require price-level data and a known tick size.