Visible range volume profile

A visible range volume profile is computed over the bars currently displayed on the chart, so it changes every time the chart is zoomed or scrolled. It is a fast exploration tool for seeing where volume concentrated in whatever is on screen, but its levels are not stable references, since a different view gives a different profile.

Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026


How it works

The profile takes every bar within the chart's visible time range, adds each bar's volume at each price, and draws the histogram with its point of control and value area. Zoom out and older bars join the profile; scroll right and the oldest bars leave it. The profile is always correct for what is on screen, and that is precisely its limitation: the screen is not a market-defined period.

A worked example

Zoomed on the last two hours, a chart's visible range profile shows its point of control at 5,004.00. Zooming out to two days moves the point of control to 4,990.00, where the previous day traded heavily. Both are accurate descriptions of different windows. A level taken from the first view and quoted as 'the POC' would disappear the moment someone else looked at a different zoom.

Good uses and bad uses

  • Good: scanning a chart quickly for high and low volume areas at several zoom levels.
  • Good: checking whether a structure seen on screen, such as a balance area, has a single dominant node.
  • Bad: using its levels as fixed references in a trading plan or a shared analysis.
  • Bad: reviewing past trades with the chart scrolled back, since the visible range then includes bars that came after the moment being analyzed, which is look-ahead in a manual review.

In Senzoukria

The Volume Profile overlay's 'Period' setting includes 'Visible range', under which the profile follows the zoom and uses the loaded bars in view. For a stable version of the same idea, the Profile tool in the drawing toolbar draws a volume, bid/ask or delta profile over a fixed rectangle of bars and prices, with its own statistics box, and it stays attached to that range whatever the zoom. Session-based and rolling periods are the other choices of the same overlay.

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Frequently asked questions

Why does my volume profile's POC move when I zoom?
Because the profile is set to the visible range, so zooming changes which bars it includes. Switch the period to a session or a fixed window, or draw a fixed range profile, if you need a point of control that does not depend on the view.
Is a visible range profile the same as a composite profile?
Both can span several sessions, but a composite profile is built over a chosen, stated window, such as the last five sessions or a rolling 90 days, while a visible range profile is whatever the screen shows. The composite is reproducible; the visible range is not.

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