LevelsHunter MT5

Purpose

The indicator displays tick volume distribution across price levels over a specified number of recent bars. It is designed to analyse volume accumulation zones and identify significant support and resistance levels.

It works especially well in combination with other indicators that show entry points. The POC, VAH and VAL levels act as an objective filter: they confirm a signal if it coincides with a volume accumulation zone, or allow you to refrain from a trade when a signal occurs in an "empty" area.

A key capability – you can "rewind time" and see which POC, VAH and VAL levels were relevant on any past bar. This turns the indicator into a full-fledged trade analyser.

Main Elements

• POC (Point of Control) – the level with the highest volume, where the largest number of transactions occurred during the analysed period.

• VAH (Value Area High) – the upper boundary of the price zone that includes a specified percentage of total volume.

• VAL (Value Area Low) – the lower boundary of the price zone that includes a specified percentage of total volume.

• Previous day high and low – the previous trading day's levels.

Signal Interpretation

• Testing the POC level may indicate a potential reversal.

• Price fixing above VAH or below VAL may signal the start of a new move.

• A bounce from previous day's levels is used within trend-following or counter-trend strategies.

History Analysis

You can see what the volume profile looked like at any point in the past:

• Manual shift – select a shift in bars, and all POC, VAH, VAL lines will be recalculated for that bar.

• Visual marker – a blue dashed vertical line appears on the chart labelled "Analysis start", marking the bar for which levels are calculated.

• Interactive movement – drag this line left or right with the mouse, and the indicator instantly recalculates levels for the new bar. No need to go into settings.

Example:
Set a shift of 96 bars on the M15 timeframe – the indicator will show levels from exactly 24 hours ago. Move the marker to your trade entry bar – and you'll see the volumes that were visible at the moment of entry.

Line Drawing Logic

Lines do not create visual clutter:

• Each line starts where it is actually relevant and extends only to the right (into the future).

• POC, VAH and VAL levels start at the first bar of the analysis period (set by the  Number of bars for analysis  parameter). If you change the number of bars, the line origins shift accordingly – providing clear visual feedback.

• Previous day levels – Prev High and Prev Low lines – start exactly at 00:00 of that day.

Label Management

The  Show text labels at the right edge  parameter lets you completely remove text labels (POC, VAH, VAL, Prev High, Prev Low) from the right edge of the chart if they get in the way.

Implementation Features

• Previous day levels (High/Low) do not repaint – they are fixed once per day.

• POC, VAH and VAL levels are recalculated on every new bar during normal operation. In history analysis mode, they are fixed for the selected bar.

• The indicator works on any timeframe and any symbol.

• Does not use external DLL libraries.

• Information panel provides a brief description of each level (can be disabled).

Configuration Parameters

Free Version

The free version allows you to analyse up to 100 recent bars for both profile calculation and shift into the past.
On the M15 timeframe, this is approximately 25 hours (just over one day).

LevelsHunter Pro

The Pro version removes the historical depth limitation – you can analyse any number of bars in the past.

Additional Pro version features:

• Double-click on a bar – instantly jump to the levels of the selected bar

• Value Area fill – visual separation of VAH–POC and POC–VAL zones

• History Mode button – enable past analysis with one click. When disabled, the indicator returns to current situation mode

Application in Trading

For Trade Entry

Before opening a position, move the analysis marker to the current bar. Assess whether the price is near a significant level (POC, VAH, VAL, Prev High/Low). If your trading system's signal coincides with a volume accumulation level, the probability of a successful trade increases. If the signal occurs in an "empty" price range, it is a reason for additional verification.

For Monitoring and Analysing Open and Closed Trades

For an open position – move the marker to the entry bar and remember the key levels of that moment. Monitor how the price interacts with them now: testing POC, fixing above VAH, or bouncing from Prev Low.

For a closed trade – return to the entry and exit bars. Compare whether the volume structure has changed. This allows you to objectively assess whether the trade was justified from a volume profile perspective and improve your trading discipline.

Who Is It For

Scalpers – see zones with maximum trade concentration on small timeframes where price spends most of its time.

Day traders – use previous day's levels and Value Area to build trading zones within the day.

Swing traders – analyse volume profile shifts when moving from one trading day to another.

Algo traders and strategy developers – can use level values in expert advisors as objective entry filters.

Beginner traders – get a clear picture of where trades actually took place, not just nice lines on the chart.

Anyone who keeps a trading journal – the ability to return to the moment of any trade and see the levels that were relevant at that moment, not now.

Update 3.3

In addition to the main functions, the indicator now displays the current spread value in points as a compact panel in the upper right corner of the chart. When hovering the cursor over any candle, it shows the historical spread for that bar.

Indispensable for traders whose strategies are sensitive to spread size: scalping, news trading, working with high-volatility instruments.

Current Spread

Constantly displayed in the upper right corner. Updates in real time (once per second).

Historical Spread

When hovering the mouse over any candle, a tooltip appears with the following information:

• Bar time

• Spread value in points

• A note that the minimum spread for the bar period is shown (a feature of historical data storage by brokers)

Color Indication

• Green – spread within normal range (≤ set threshold)

• Red – spread is high (> threshold)
  The threshold is user-configurable (default is 20 points).

Interpretation

• Low spread (green) – favourable entry conditions, especially for scalping and intraday trading.

• High spread (red) – a reason to refrain from a trade or use wider stop-losses.

• Historical spread – allows you to assess whether comfortable entry conditions existed in the past at the point you are analysing.

Implementation Features

• Works on any timeframes and trading symbols.

• Displays current spread in real time.

• Shows historical spread when hovering over a candle.

• Has a configurable background for better readability.

• Does not use external DLL libraries.

• Minimal impact on terminal performance.

Configuration Parameters

Application in Trading

For Scalping
High spread (red) is a signal to refrain from trading. Wait for the spread to drop to the green zone.

For Intraday Trading
Monitor the spread when entering a position. If the spread exceeds a comfortable level – postpone the entry or adjust your stop-loss.

For History Analysis
Hover the cursor over the candle where the entry was made. Find out what the spread was at that moment. This will help you objectively assess the quality of the trade.

For Instrument Selection
Compare the average spread of different symbols. The panel shows the spread of the current chart; switch between instruments – and you will see where conditions are better.

Who It Is For

• Scalpers – spread is critical for ultra-short trades. The indicator instantly signals unfavourable conditions.

• Day traders – assess entry comfort and adjust position size depending on the spread.

• Strategy developers – visual spread control during manual testing and optimisation.

• Beginner traders – clearly see how spread affects a trade and learn to choose moments with better conditions.

• Anyone who analyses trade history – historical spread on hover allows you to return to any entry moment and assess its validity.

Technical Details

Why does the tooltip say "min value for this bar"?

When copying historical data using the  CopySpread  function, most brokers return the minimum spread value for the bar period, not the average or the last one. This is a data storage feature. The indicator honestly informs about this so that the trader has a complete understanding of what they are seeing.

For the current spread (corner panel), the actual real-time value is used.