Point of Control (POC)

The point of control is the single price, or the single profile row, where the most volume traded during the profile's window. It is the mode of the distribution, the price the auction spent the most business at. In a balanced session the POC often sits near the middle of the range. In a trend session it can sit near one end, because that is where the volume actually built before price left. Calling it "fair value" is a shorthand. It is fair only in the sense that the most trade agreed there, for that window.

A POC that has not migrated all session is a sign of balance. A POC that shifts higher through the day, a developing POC, says the business of the day is being done at higher prices. Multi-day naked POCs, prior points of control that price has not revisited, are levels traders mark. They are unfinished business only as a metaphor. Nobody is required to go back and trade there. Markets often do revisit high-volume prices, and often they do not.

Use the session POC as a magnet in a balanced day and as a line in the sand in a trend day. Accepting price above a prior POC, building time and volume there, is stronger than a single wick through it. When you trade a break from balance, the POC is a logical place for a failed-break target, because that is where the last auction did its business. Size the idea with the range, not with the label.

Treating the POC as a precise tick. Profile rows have a height, the bin size. A different bin size moves the POC. Also assuming the highest volume price is support because volume was high. High volume can be the price everyone is trying to get out at, which is supply.

The POC is window-dependent. Today's POC, this swing's POC, and this year's POC are three prices. Name the window. And on a thin or gappy profile the "most volume" row may be only slightly ahead of its neighbours, a weak mode, not a landmark.