Some people use actual volume in addition to the representation of volume by the tpos. In the Ninja Trader add-on software you can overlay the actual volume as light grey colored bars under the tpos, or you can separate them out. I prefer to just look at the tpos. That way you see the volume being built over time which seems more logical since you want to see where prices are being accepted and rejected. Actual volume can sometimes give you spikes at various prices and can distort the developing bell curve. But it’s all personal preference. Try it both ways until you find what speaks to you.

Regarding futures, if you are using prices I think any data feed would be ok. But beware of bad ticks for both stocks and futures. Platforms like TradeStation try to correct bad ticks as they happen, or in some cases shortly after they occur. Other platforms leave them in, so it’s best to keep a short term bar chart somewhere so you can easily spot the bad ticks and correct them yourself. It’s more difficult to see the bad ticks on a profile.

I would definitely read through the book several times. There’s a long learning curve to using the market profile so be patient.

Good luck,
Doug

I ordered the book and now have read it once, but need to study it all again.

Would you also recommend using actual volume as well as Market Profile?

Also, do futures brokers offer accurate enough data to use volume analysis/MP and, say, very short term trading, or does it require a separate subscription for data?

Thanks again.

Do the Market profile concepts work with 24 hour markets as well, such as Foreign Exchange? For instance, it may be that the first hour of trading used for the initial balance may not have the same value, unless perhaps the charts are split into 2 or 3 separate market “days” – Asia, Europe, America? I don’t know, but would be very interested to learn more.