As you know, there are 2 opposing forces in the market: buyers and sellers. When buyers are aggressive, the price rises, searching for new sellers. On the opposite, when sellers are aggressive, the price falls, searching for new buyers.

When aggression is balanced, the market finds a fair value and will remain in such condition until a major event changes the aggression of buyers and sellers, causing an imbalance.

The balanced market condition is called “Fair Value” which is simply a price area that facilitate most trade between market participants, and results in price trading in a tight range on higher volume.

This visual representation helps you understand the flow that constantly happens in financial markets and its key importance over time. Keep it in mind as we proceed with this content.

We can start applying the concept of AMT on the chart with a practical and introductive example.

Let’s suppose that Bitcoin is trading into the $65.300/$65.800 range, perceived as a fair value from market participants.

At some point, buyers start to become aggressive, pushing the price higher (a narrative surrounds the price action) producing a buy imbalance that leads the price into a discovery phase.

This buyer demand drives the price up until it finds a target area in which sellers accept to sell, creating a range where the forces are balanced and therefore obtaining a fair value. (between $66.500/$67.100 this example).

That fair value over time isn’t perceived as fair as the market was thinking, creating a wave of sellers that produce a sell imbalance bringing the price of Bitcoin back into the previous fair value built.

Important concept: In a fair value zone, the volumes will likely be high as there will be a lot of exchanges between buyers and sellers.

During imbalances instead, the volumes will likely be LOW as the directional impulse (bull or bear) has one preponderant force.

We saw the theory behind an imbalance, so let’s apply it to the Bitcoin daily chart.

The range in which Bitcoin was trading (between 32K and 28K) was also considered as a fair value area.

Then, the price fell below the range due to an aggressive move by sellers, creating a big imbalance which was a “magnet” for the price to search for liquidity (notice the wicks that grab liquidity into the imbalance zone).

So why does this matter?

If we extend the timeframe and look at the price action of Bitcoin further, we can notice that the price has rebalanced the imbalance created in the past, using that area to rise more, until where?

Near the past Fair Value zone.

Statistically speaking, the market is more likely to find a reaction in a zone where there was demand, because the market perceived that area as fair value.

The value (not the price) of the asset was considered fair.

Another crucial aspect to consider is that we don’t know when imbalance zones will be rebalanced.

It could take days, weeks or even months before seeing the price re-balancing the imbalance.

This means that you don't have to sell after the price has created an imbalance, as the market could produce another impulse and you'll likely to get “cut” from the trend missing out on profits.

This also means that, statistically speaking, the market will tend to flow back to fill that imbalance and potentially go into fair value areas for the theory of “path of least resistance”. (imbalances have low volumes that stop the price).

Remember: if the price rebalances, it has also the strength to pump more.

Otherwise it has not the necessary “fuel”.

From a basic perspective, there are 3 important elements:

• POC (Point of Control) → the price with the most traded volume
• Value Area (VA) → where roughly 68/70% of the trading activity occurred (divided into VAH and VAL)
• High Volume Nodes (HVNs) → areas of acceptance
• Low Volume Nodes (LVNs) → areas of rejection or inefficiency

HVNs act like magnets for price because they represent equilibrium where buyers and sellers previously agreed on value.

I like to think, instead, about LVNs as "highways" where price tends to move quickly due to the lack of prior transactions.

Already here you can start understanding why the market often accelerates through certain areas and slows down around others.

It’s important because it helps identify significant price levels based on trading volume by displaying a histogram on the chart.

The longer the line, the greater the volume traded at the associated price level. If the line is short, there haven't been many trades at that specific level (volume scarcity or voids).

In the example you can see the volume profile on the left for the S&P500 (notice the big cluster of long volume lines in the 3950/3750 zone)

At this point you might be asking: “Mate, why I should use volume profile?”

2 main reasons:

• to identify areas where there has been significant interest in trading, pinpointing potential support and resistance levels.
• to find areas where spikes in volume or high volume nodes (HVN) have been recorded.

In general, the market tends to stay at these levels for a longer period of time compared to others.

When the price approaches an HVN, it is less likely that the market will immediately break through that level.

Low Volume Nodes (LVNs) are the opposite, meaning price areas where volumes have been low.

LVNs are generally the result of sharp directional movements either downward or upward (Imbalances) therefore, for the “path of least resistance” we saw above, the price will not spend a lot of time there, as it isn’t considered a fair value area.

There are many ways to calculate the volume profile but the one that I recommend using if you’re at your first steps and you want to adopt a long term strategy is the visible range VP which will provide all the areas (like in the examples above)

So how to? Well, the classic VP is a premium tool from TradingView but fortunately, some users have developed free indicators.

The one that could be used is the Volume Profile made by LuxAlgo: this is how the chart will look like with the volume profile that will be displayed on the left.

In this example we can clearly see what we’ve said before: The high concentration of volumes (HVN) matches the 40K/44K range for Bitcoin. (price spent lot of time there).

The volume void instead highlights the imbalance in the price.

The starting point is by anchoring your FRVP from a meaningful swing high to a meaningful swing low (or vice versa, depending on the direction of the move).

"Why from swing high to swing low?"

Because this isolates the auction leg, therefore the segment of market activity where the imbalance originated.

A swing high followed by an impulsive move down is the beginning of a potential supply structure.

A swing low followed by an impulsive move up is the beginning of a potential demand structure.

By anchoring your FRVP across this exact leg, you capture the entire distribution of traded volume that underpins the move which is not arbitrary, it’s the footprint of where "business" was done, and it’s the only way to distinguish whether your “zone” is real or a mirage. (double click on the indicator and select VAH/POC/VAL to display the lines)

When you apply the FRVP from high to low, you are left with 3 critical levels:

• POC (Point of Control): The single price level where the most contracts or shares traded. If your supposed demand or supply sits directly at the POC, understand that this level has already been normalized into the market’s perception of fair value.

Don’t expect explosive rejection as it’s processed liquidity.

• VAH (Value Area High): The upper boundary of 70% of all traded volume within that swing. Supply zones that overlap with VAH are powerful when price retests and rejects them. Why? Because they mark the edge of accepted value. If the market refuses to build above that edge, sellers are defending.
• VAL (Value Area Low): The lower boundary of that same 70% distribution. Demand zones that overlap with VAL gain legitimacy when price retests them and then builds acceptance back above. Buyers are showing up to keep value inside the range.

Example of FRVP on an HTF range on DOGE

Now that we saw the essential part of the FRVP, the one that most can grasp, it’s time to dive deeper and analyze the real “sauce”. (Don’t be scared of the numbers, it’s nothing really complicated)

On the left-hand side of the chart I presented, you see horizontal bars accompanied by numbers.

These are the “heart” of the FRVP, something very often overlooked.

Each bar represents the amount of Dogecoin traded at that exact price level, and the numbers show you the size of that activity.

The letters “M” and “B” stand for millions and billions of DOGE traded.

For example, 1.64B means one billion six hundred forty million coins were exchanged at that price, while 316.19M means three hundred sixteen million coins traded there.

The bigger the number, the heavier the trading at that level.

Sometimes you see two numbers separated by a multiplication symbol, like 224.93M × 316.19M.

This doesn’t mean they are multiplied but instead, it’s a breakdown of how the total trading volume at that price was divided between buyers and sellers.

The first number is the buy volume, the second number is the sell volume.

So in that example, at the red line (VAH) around 224 million DOGE were bought and 316 million DOGE were sold at that level, for a total of roughly 541 million traded. (224.93 + 316.19 = 541.12)

This gives us even more insight because it shows whether a price level leaned more toward accumulation or toward distribution.

When you look at these bars and numbers, you’ll notice some areas where the bars are very long and the numbers very large.

These are called high-volume nodes.

They are like the busy marketplaces of the chart, places where buyers and sellers met in huge size and agreed on price.

When price approaches a high-volume node, it often slows down, consolidates, or even reverses, because traders remember these levels and are willing to engage there again.

That’s why often they act as strong support or resistance.

In contrast, there are areas where the bars are very short and the numbers are much smaller.

These are low-volume nodes, the empty streets of the chart.

Price doesn’t linger there for long and when it passes through, it often moves quickly, because there’s not much trading memory or liquidity to slow it down. This is why low-volume zones often behave like “fast lanes” as once price enters them, it tends to run straight to the next high-volume area.

• Side note:

The numbers on the sides of the volume profile bars are often shown as buyers on one side and sellers on the other, but they don’t truly represent who is in control.

They usually count trades hitting the ask as “buyers” and trades hitting the bid as “sellers,” but many trades are matched internally by the exchange, so it’s not a reliable measure of buying or selling pressure.

To see actual market aggression, you’d need an order flow or footprint chart.

“Ok, so why it should be useful?”

It’s useful because it shows where trading activity is concentrated, helping you identify important price levels.

High-volume areas often act as support or resistance, while low-volume areas show where price moved quickly. Even though it doesn’t tell you who is buying or selling, it provides a map of market interest that helps plan entries, exits, and anticipate how price might react. (if you’re able to give it context)

Zoom in on the FRVP of DOGE

“Cool bro, so I just have to buy when the first number overcomes the second

since this means that buyers are more than sellers..easy game!”

Eh no my friend, otherwise it would be too easy, don’t you think so?

Let me show you an example.

The white rectangle represents the POC on DOGE which has been used from the price to bounce later (10 September 2025) but wait..how is it possible if sellers were exceeding buyers?

Well, even when the FRVP shows that sell volume at a POC exceeds buy volume, price can still surge because the numbers reflect only executed trades at that price, not the latent demand or supply lurking just off the book.

Think of the POC as a “busy intersection”: many trades happened there historically, but what really determines price movement is who is willing to absorb the opposing side and push through.

When sell volume dominates at the POC, large buyers may still be present, passively absorbing those sells without letting price drop.

This is what we call absorption, the market allows sellers to offload coins into resting buy orders without impacting price.

Once the immediate selling pressure is absorbed, the excess buy-side liquidity can push price upward, sometimes in a very violent manner.

The POC is also part of a high-volume node, which acts as a strong liquidity magnet.

Traders remember these levels, algorithms trigger entries, and stop-loss clusters often exist nearby.

Even if the executed volume at the POC favors sellers, the surrounding HVN and latent buy orders provide a cushion.

When price exits the node into lower-volume areas, it can accelerate because there’s less resistance and the accumulated buying pressure dominates.

In short, FRVP numbers show what traded, not who controls price next. Aggressive buyers stepping in, the cushioning effect of the HVN, and absorption of sell orders all combine to allow price to soar, even when the executed sell volume at the POC is higher than buy volume.

Price is ultimately driven by order book dynamics, latent demand, and momentum, not just the raw executed numbers at a single level.

For this reason, being able to contextualize the price action is very important

and often, is the most difficult thing.

DOGE absorption at POC & continuation

When price makes a clean impulse move, like the one shown here, applying the profile from the SH (where the move began) to the SL (where it completed) allows me to analyze exactly where volume was concentrated during that specific selloff.

It tells me the story of that move: where sellers were active, where buyers attempted to absorb, and where the market was in balance.

In this case, the profile reveals a heavy cluster of volume right around the middle of the range, the POC, and it’s a key area where price spent time consolidating before continuing downward.

What’s important is that price didn’t react immediately to this volume node.

Do you remember the multi HTF demand we were watching for continuation to the upside?

There were multiple demands overlapping each other signaling interest from institutions, also aligning with the 0.705 and 0.79 Fib levels and…also aligning with the volume node, so acting as a + 1 confluence for our setup.

WIF was building structure above the POC in an overall good moment for the market and toward that demand, if we zoom in on the FRVP (image attached) there were sell orders overcoming buy ones, but..well, the context there was key.