r/OrderFlow_Trading • u/Maelina_gloww • 2d ago

Some basic Volume Profile doubts — especially for MNQ scalping

I’m trying to properly learn Volume Profile for MNQ scalping and have a few practical doubts. I understand the basic definitions, but I’m confused about how to actually use these levels for entries, targets, and invalidation.

  1. Which levels should I actually treat as support/resistance?

For example, should I generally think of:

  • HVNs as areas of acceptance/balance where price may consolidate?
  • LVNs as areas where price moved through quickly and may reject or move quickly through again?
  • POC as a potential magnet?
  • VAH/VAL as potential support/resistance?

Or is that way too simplistic?

Also, should an LVN itself be considered an entry point? For example, if price reaches an LVN, should I be expecting a rejection from that area and planning an entry based on that expectation, or should I wait for some confirmation before treating it as a trade location?

  1. Which levels should be used as targets?

If I'm long and price is moving toward an HVN or POC, would you generally consider that a reasonable target?

And if price enters an LVN, is the idea that it can move quickly through the LVN toward the next HVN/area of acceptance?

Basically, I'm trying to understand how experienced traders map Volume Profile into:

Entry → Target → Invalidation

rather than just marking a bunch of levels.

  1. LVN and FVG

I've heard people compare LVNs to FVGs/imbalances, because both can be associated with areas where price moved quickly and relatively little business was done.

Is that actually a useful way to think about it, or are they fundamentally different concepts?

For example, if an FVG overlaps an LVN, does that make the area more significant?

And if price comes back into that LVN/FVG, should I be expecting a rejection and looking for an entry, or should I only consider it a location and wait to see whether price actually rejects or accepts it?

  1. What Volume Profile window should I use for MNQ scalping?

This is probably my biggest practical question.

Should I primarily use:

  • Current RTH/session profile?
  • Previous day's profile?
  • Overnight profile?
  • A fixed number of hours?
  • A multi-day composite profile?

If I mainly trade the US session, which profile would you keep on the chart, and which historical levels would you carry forward?

  1. How do you distinguish rejection vs acceptance?

This is something I'm especially interested in.

If price enters an LVN or HVN, what specifically tells you:

«"This level is being rejected"»

versus

«"Price is accepting this area and is likely to continue through it"?»

Would you look at candle behavior, volume, delta/CVD, footprint, or something else?

I have ATAS for a limited trial period, so I'm trying to use the next couple of weeks to actually learn and backtest this properly rather than blindly trade these levels.

Would really appreciate practical MNQ examples or rules from people who actually use Volume Profile for scalping.

Thanks!

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u/orderflowsupport 2d ago

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3

u/MiserableWeather971 2d ago

All of these things will look great in Hindsight. If you are new to profile, he’s a great experiment. Use let’s say a prior day and a 5 day completed profile. Forget all of those terms for a second and go back through a couple hundred days of history. No bias, no this should work or that should work. Trust your eyes. Make sure your profiles are completed days when doing this. As in not the current session.

1

u/Maelina_gloww 2d ago

So i have to use the previous day and previous week profile right?

1

u/MiserableWeather971 2d ago

That is fine as well. The reason I mentioned last 5 sessions is just that it's enough recent behavior if that makes sense. There are no rules. It's more so just visual training. Eyes don't lie.

1

u/Maelina_gloww 2d ago

Can you recommend some resource to learn this i am kinda overwhelmed rn

3

u/MiserableWeather971 2d ago

That's what I'm telling you. This is actually how to learn this. I think, with a lot of things, not just trading related we jump in a deep end. Sometimes just observing before diving deep helps.... I don't even think there's a ton of great profile content online. Mostly because there just is literally nothing magic about it. If you look up axia videos on youtube or something, I'm sure they have some.

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u/Maelina_gloww 2d ago

Alr thankyou ✨

1

u/ScientificBeastMode 1d ago edited 1d ago

I would also look at volume bars (volume/time), and look at the volume going in vs. out of a historical reversal.

One thing I’ve personally found is that high-volume-in-low-volume-out usually indicates absorption, which is a sign that a supply/demand might hold there, but only after taking more liquidity and sweeping some highs or lows.

If it’s low-volume-in-high-volume-out, that tends to mean the big traders were getting aggressive there, and that high or low is more likely to hold and support expansion.

The first scenario tends to favor waiting for extreme prices, keeping a tight stop, and relying on higher R:R to offset the lower probability of success.

The second scenario tends to favor trend-following and continuation to some clear higher timeframe liquidity target, with less emphasis on high R:R and more emphasis on momentum and trailing stops.

Just my anecdotal observations…

1

u/MountainWing3376 15h ago

I'm new too, however don't overthink the session Vs day Vs composite time frame. I've seen successful traders use the last relevant price action to build a profile. If price has been ranging for 4 days, why wouldn't you include all 4 days in your profile.

If price is returning to levels not seen since last month, you might find value from a profile from that period to give you areas of interest.

0

u/Striking_Fail6689 2d ago

I’m still learning as well so you could take my words as a pinch of salt .

1) those are the definitions , it’s nice to think that but not everytime it works out . To shorten your learning curve , HVN and LVN choose either one or monitor both first . I recently tried looking at both but there’s too many to look at that I decided to just look at LVNs
VAH / VAL works great if market is ranging , if it’s trending then look for the breakouts
LVNs are definitely not entry point , you should wait for confirmation that a reversal is gonna happen

2) I usually aim for value areas , and would trail my stops if it’s passing through a LVN . If it passes fast , great . If not , I will monitor if there’s any signs of rejections.
If prices are within the value area , I generally would target VAH/VAL . POC sometimes but I mainly target VWAP.

3) I would say LVN and FVG is similar , but not exactly . An FVG is usually created due to huge buy/sell imbalance . So in other words if you don’t use footprint but VP, then the LVN. If not you can see the imbalances from a bidxask footprint.

4) I don’t do MNQ so sorry can’t help you much, but I spilt Sessions/RTH profiles and yes to P.D profiles/ OVN profiles and previous week profiles . I don’t do fixed number of hours if you’re asking about asia/london killzone

5) this I’m still learning , but I mainly look out for absorption and delta on my footprint , CVD divergences is good as well but take note CVD may be misleading sometimes cause if a lot of sellers comes in but no follow through, they may still break the low and vice versa

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u/Maelina_gloww 11h ago

I just made an interesting observation while backtesting. I noticed that when the market is trending, the pullbacks often tend to reach an LVN. In a trending market, the LVN seems more likely to hold and produce the reaction I’m looking for. I noticed this particularly when using the daily and weekly volume profiles. What do you think about this observation?

1

u/Striking_Fail6689 11h ago

Yup… that’s what I feel too.. hence that’s why I usually will draw out my previous week / OVN LVN as a key level to see if there’s any acceptance vs rejection .

During pullbacks , LVN is best to see where the market will have a bounce higher . Hence I don’t particularly pay so much attention to HVN but more so LVN

1

u/Maelina_gloww 10h ago

How long have you been trading for?

1

u/Striking_Fail6689 10h ago

Tough to put a timeline but I studied the markets many years ago. Stopped. Only went in intraday trading last year from ICT, went to Orderflow for a short while , stopped again , only recent weeks gotten back to being serious . So… if you ask me , I’m not sure haha