Value area rejection

The value area is where about 70% of yesterday's volume traded. Opening near its edges, price often gets rejected back toward the middle.

Volume and value strategiesAdvancedConfirmed on candle close

Watch it play out

Replay plays a setup this strategy already finished and stops so you can call it. Live watches for the next one on Bitcoin (BTC-USD, 1-minute candles). Either way a setup is marked only when a candle closes, then it's locked and plays out to its target or its stop. Nothing to trade here.

How the live chart applies the rules
  • 1-minute candles. The chart runs every strategy on 1-minute Bitcoin candles from Coinbase, whatever timeframe the strategy page suggests. Times are New York time.
  • Closed candles only. Levels, triggers and stops are read when a candle closes. Entry is that candle's close.
  • One setup at a time. While a setup is playing out, the same strategy doesn't start another.
  • Sensible risk only. A setup counts only if its stop is between a quarter and 6 times the average candle range (ATR 14) from entry (wider for session-range strategies), and its target is at least 0.75R away.
  • How a setup ends. At its target or its stop. If one candle touches both, the stop counts. A setup also ends at any exit its page names, and after 120 candles (longer for trend and session strategies) if nothing is hit.
  • Replays. A replay plays the latest setup this strategy finished on the live chart's recent history, sped up. It's the same setup the live chart confirmed, with the same entry, stop and result. If the strategy hasn't finished one recently, the replay uses example candles and says so.
  • The trading day. A day runs 6:00 PM to 6:00 PM ET, like futures. VWAP restarts at 6:00 PM, and "yesterday" means the last full trading day.

How Value area rejection works

TargetStopStretched to the outer bandBack inside: fade
Example drawing, not live market data.
1Where's the level?
Yesterday's value area high and low.
2What's the trigger?
Price tests the edge and a candle closes back inside value.
3Where is it wrong?
Beyond the test extreme.
4Where does it end?
Yesterday's point of control.
Markets
Index futures
Timeframes
5m to 30m
Sessions
New York
Also called
value area high/low fade

What it means

The value area is where about 70% of yesterday's volume traded. Opening near its edges, price often gets rejected back toward the middle.

How it is confirmed without repainting

Value area comes from yesterday's completed volume profile.

When it fails

Acceptance outside value: several closes beyond the edge.

Education only. Prop Firm Duel does not provide trade signals or financial advice. This page explains how the strategy is commonly defined. Past results never guarantee future results.

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The point of control is the single price where the most volume traded. Untouched prior points of control act as magnets and turning points.

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The 80% rule

A Market Profile rule: if price opens outside yesterday's value area and then spends two 30-minute periods back inside it, it often travels across the whole value area.

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