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Session POC (developing) — Profiles & levels, on the price chart.
What Session POC (developing) measures
At each bar the indicator takes the volume-at-price profile of everything traded since the session started and returns the price holding the most volume. Sessions follow the CME convention of a 17:00 CT open, so the reset happens there and not at midnight. Equal volumes resolve to the lower price. The result is a path rather than a single figure: its final point is the session point of control, and everything before it records where that point of control stood earlier.
The formula, as implemented
This is not how the indicator is usually defined elsewhere — it is what the shipped code computes, documented next to the implementation:
POC de session « developing » : POC du profil CUMULÉ depuis l'ouverture de session (17:00 CT) jusqu'à chaque barre — la trace de migration du POC. Reset à CHAQUE ouverture de session. ÉGALITÉ → prix le plus bas (Sierra, choix du repo).
How to read it
- A line drifting steadily in one direction shows volume being rebuilt at successively higher or lower prices as the session goes on.
- A line pinned at one price while the market travels away from it shows the session's volume anchored where price no longer is, which says nothing about a return.
- A vertical step means a new price overtook the previous leader; the bars around it show whether that came from one large burst or from steady accumulation.
- Set against the previous session's final value, the line shows whether today is rebuilding volume at the same price or somewhere else.
- The first bars of a session rest on very little volume and can move on a few trades; the line settles as the profile fills.
Parameters and defaults
Smoothing defaults to 1, meaning no smoothing and the raw migration path. Values up to 200 average the line and hide small steps, at the cost of lagging the bar where a new price actually took the lead. The developing point of control is a stepped quantity, so heavy smoothing produces values sitting between prices that never held the most volume. The line colour defaults to #ff9800.
| Parameter | Type | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoothing | number | 1 | 1 – 200 |
What it does not show
The line reports volume at price; the aggressing side is not part of the calculation, so a level built by resting orders being hit and one built by aggressive buying are indistinguishable here. A session cut by the left edge of the chart is accumulated from its first loaded bar, which is not its open, and nothing marks the difference. The 17:00 CT reset belongs to the futures calendar: on an instrument trading to another schedule, the accumulation restarts at a moment that means nothing for it. A gap in the feed removes volume from the profile without leaving any trace on the line.
Related indicators
- Rolling VPOC — Profiles & levels
- Session VAH/VAL (developing) — Profiles & levels
- Initial Balance — Profiles & levels
- Session Open — Profiles & levels
- Prior Session H/L/C — Profiles & levels
- Overnight High/Low — Profiles & levels
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Frequently asked questions
- What is a developing POC?
- A developing point of control is the POC of the profile as it stands at each moment of the session, rather than the single value the finished profile ends with. Plotted bar by bar it forms a line showing where the most-traded price was earlier in the day and how it moved. The last point of that line is the session point of control.
- When does the session POC reset?
- At every session open, anchored to 17:00 CT, following the futures convention where a trading day starts the previous afternoon rather than at midnight. Volume accumulated before that boundary is not carried into the new session.
- Does the developing POC repaint earlier bars?
- Not in the usual sense: once a bar has closed, the profile up to that bar is settled and its plotted value stays put, and only the bar currently trading can still change. One case does move earlier values without being repainting. If the first session on your chart was cut by the left edge, loading more history adds the bars that were missing and that session is recomputed with them.