VAH / VAL

What it is

VAH and VAL are the Value Area High and Value Area Low — the upper and lower price bounds of the value area, which is the central price range containing roughly 70% of the traded volume in a volume profile window. Together with the POC (Point of Control), they are the three most-tracked statistics derived from a session's volume profile.

The 70% figure is a convention inherited from market profile theory: it corresponds to roughly one standard deviation of a normal distribution, treating the day's volume profile as if it were a probability density. To compute the value area, you start at the POC, then expand outward (one price level up, one price level down, picking whichever has more volume at each step) until the accumulated volume reaches 70% of the session total. The highest price reached is VAH; the lowest is VAL.

The width of the value area is a structural reading of the day's character. A narrow value area means most of the volume was concentrated tightly around the POC — a balanced, mean-reverting session. A wide value area means volume was spread broadly — a trending or two-way session that explored a lot of price.

Why it matters

VAH and VAL are session-scoped support and resistance lines with empirical backing: they are the edges of the price range the market accepted during the session. When price approaches VAH or VAL from inside the value area, traders watch for rotation back toward the POC. When price breaks outside the value area, the move often continues — either acceptance above (a higher-value rotation tomorrow) or rejection back inside (a failed breakout).

A few common applications:

• Initial Balance + value area — comparing the opening hour's IB range against the eventual value area highlights whether the session expanded, contracted, or held its early structure.
• Prior-day VAH/VAL — yesterday's VAH and VAL frequently act as reference levels in today's session, especially on opens that gap into or away from them.
• Value area migration — tracking VAH and VAL across consecutive days reveals trend regimes: higher VAHs and higher VALs on consecutive days is a trending up structure.

How it appears on Sierra Chart

Sierra Chart's volume profile studies render VAH and VAL as horizontal lines at the computed prices, color-configurable separately from the POC. The 70% value-area percentage is itself an input, so you can compute alternative areas (e.g., 80%, 50%) by changing the parameter.

Across multi-session views, the platform supports displaying historical VAH/VAL lines from prior sessions extended forward, which is how prior-day value area becomes a tradable reference on the current session.

Common patterns / pitfalls

• 70% is a convention, not a law — some traders use 68%, 80%, or other percentages depending on instrument and style.
• VAH/VAL are recomputed as the session develops — a developing VAH/VAL during the trading day is not the same as the finalized boundary at session close.
• Bucket size affects bounds — coarser buckets shift VAH/VAL by tick-multiple amounts.
• One-sided sessions distort the value area — strong trending days with a POC near the high or low can produce skewed value areas; interpret accordingly.
• Don't conflate with Bollinger Bands — the value area is volume-distribution-based, not price-volatility-based.

Related SCS studies

SCS does not ship a dedicated value area study — Sierra Chart's native volume profile covers the rendering. SCS order-flow studies often pair with value area levels: Single Print and Gap, Zero Print Zones, and the various delta-based overlays gain additional context when interpreted relative to where price sits inside or outside the value area.