VWAP Wave System Toolkit

GENERAL OVERVIEW:
The VWAP Wave System Toolkit is an all-in-one trading indicator based on rules from Auction Market Theory. The indicator is built around Volume-Weighted Average Prices (VWAP), Initial Balance (IB) levels, session/composite volume profiles, low-volume zones, optional candle coloring, trade checklists, dashboard readings, and a watermark.

This indicator was developed by Flux Charts in collaboration with Chris Drysdale (Trader Drysdale), author of the best-selling book VWAP Wave System.

What’s the purpose of this indicator?
The VWAP Wave System Toolkit helps traders see where market value is forming, shifting, or being rejected across different timeframes. It’s built on the ideas of Auction Market Theory, which views the market as a continuous auction between buyers and sellers searching for fair value. The indicator combines VWAPs, Initial Balance levels, and volume profiles into one system that shows how price interacts with value throughout the day, week, and month. By combining short-term and higher-timeframe data, it helps traders understand when the market is balanced and when it’s starting to discover new price areas.

What’s the theory behind this indicator?
This indicator is built on Auction Market Theory, introduced by J. Peter Steidlmayer. The theory says that markets operate as continuous auctions, constantly seeking a fair price where buyers and sellers agree on value. When price stays within a narrow range and volume builds up, the market is balanced around a value area. When price moves away from that area, the market enters price discovery, searching for a new zone of balance. VWAPs represent an evolving measure of value, while Volume Profiles and Initial Balance visualize how the auction developed during each session. Low Volume Zones often show where the market moved too quickly to trade efficiently, making them potential areas of interest for future reactions. By combining these elements, the indicator provides a picture of how the market is auctioning and where value may shift next.

VWAP WAVE SYSTEM TOOLKIT FEATURES:
The VWAP Wave System Toolkit indicator includes 7 main features:

1. Initial Balance Levels
   
2. Multi-Timeframe VWAPs
   
3. Session Volume Profile
   
4. Composite Volume Profile
   
5. Low Volume Zones
   
6. Checklist
   
7. Watermark
   

Initial Balance Levels:
🔹What is the Initial Balance?
The Initial Balance (IB) is defined by the high and low prices that form within a specific time window. Typically, this time window is the first hour after the regular day trading session starts (09:30 - 10:30 AM EST).

The high and low formed during this window create the foundation for the day’s price structure. From these two points, the indicator automatically calculates several key reference levels that show how far price has extended beyond the initial range or where it may still be balanced. Understanding how these levels are derived and how to interpret them is essential to using the Initial Balance effectively.

🔹How Initial Balance Levels are calculated:
Once the IB window closes, the indicator plots a full set of reference levels derived from the IB range. These levels are:

• IB High
  
• IB Low
  
• IB Midpoint
  
• x2 High / x2 Low
  
• x2 Midpoints (x1.5 High/Low)
  
• x3 High / x3 Low
  
• x3 Midpoints (x2.5 High/Low)
  

🔹IB High & IB Low
The IB High is the highest price reached during the IB session window, and the IB Low is the lowest price reached.


🔹IB Midpoint
The IB Midpoint is the average of the IB High and IB Low.


🔹x2 High & x2 Low
The x2 levels are calculated by projecting one full IB Range above and below the Initial Balance. The IB Range is the distance between the IB High and IB Low.


🔹x2 High Midpoint & x2 Low Midpoint
The x2 High Midpoint (x1.5 High) is the average of the IB High and x2 High. The x2 Low Midpoint (x1.5 Low) is the average of the IB Low and x2 Low.


🔹x3 High & x3 Low
The x3 High/Low levels are calculated by projecting two full IB Range above and below the Initial Balance.


🔹x3 High Midpoint & x3 Low Midpoint
The x3 High Midpoint (x2.5 High) is the average of the x2 High and x3 High. The x3 Low Midpoint (x2.5 Low) is the average of the x2 Low and x3 Low.


🔹Breaks & Retests:
For every Initial Balance level, the indicator automatically tracks when price retests or breaks through them.

A Break occurs when a candle closes above or below an IB level. When this happens, the indicator plots a small blue triangle.


A Retest occurs when price approaches and touches an IB Level, and then reverses in the opposite direction. When this happens, the indicator plots a small green or red triangle.

• Green Triangle: Bullish Retest - Price comes down to a level, touches it, and continues up.
  
• Red Triangle: Bearish Retest - Price comes up to a level, touches it, and continues down.
  

Both breaks and retests are plotted directly on the chart for every toggled IB level. Once detected, they remain fixed and are not repainted.

Other Settings:
🔹Shade IB Range
When enabled, this setting fills the area between the IB High and IB Low (IB Range). The fill helps visually separate the Initial Balance range from the rest of the session, making it easier to identify when price is trading inside or outside of the IB. The color and opacity can also be adjusted through the settings.


🔹Apply One Color
When this setting is enabled, all toggled IB levels use the same color instead of the user’s inputted colors.


🔹Levels Labels
When enabled, text labels that identify each IB level (for example, “IB High,” “x2 High,” or “x2.5 Low”) appear next to each level.

🔹Price Labels
When enabled, the indicator displays the real-time price value of each IB level directly on the chart. These labels update automatically as price changes or when the levels shift due to recalculation from a new session.


🔹Extend Levels Right
When enabled, all toggled IB Levels will be extended infinitely to the right of the chart.

🔹Align Text Right
This setting aligns all level and price labels to the right edge of the plotted line. When disabled, text labels will be aligned to the left edge of each level.

Multi-Timeframe VWAPs:
🔹Why does this indicator include VWAPs?
This indicator includes VWAPs because they show where the most trading activity has occurred within each timeframe, helping identify the market’s fair value area. According to Auction Market Theory, price moves between periods of balance and imbalance as buyers and sellers seek fair value. VWAPs represent those balance points where the majority of trading has taken place. By plotting the Intraday, Weekly, and Monthly VWAPs, the indicator shows how value shifts across different timeframes and whether the market is balanced or moving toward a new area of value.

🔹Intraday VWAP
The Intraday VWAP measures the average traded price for the current trading session and resets each day at market open. It shows where most of the session’s trading has taken place, acting as a real-time fair value line. When price trades near the Intraday VWAP, the market is considered balanced. When price moves far above or below it, the market is exploring new value areas.

🔹Candle Coloring:
The Intraday VWAP candle coloring highlights how far price is trading from the session’s average value using the first and second standard deviation bands as visual reference zones. This feature helps users see whether price is balanced around fair value or expanding into an overextended area.

When candle coloring is enabled, each candle’s color changes based on where it closes relative to the two standard deviation bands surrounding the Intraday VWAP. The first band represents one standard deviation (1.0 STD) and the second represents one and a half standard deviations (1.5 STD).

If a candle closes above the upper 1.5 standard deviation band, it is colored a brighter green, showing strong movement above fair value. Candles closing between the upper 1.0 and 1.5 standard deviation bands are a lighter green, showing moderate strength. If a candle closes below the lower 1.5 standard deviation band, it is colored a brighter red, showing strong movement below fair value. Candles closing between the lower 1.0 and 1.5 standard deviation bands are a lighter red, showing moderate weakness. Candles that close within the ±1.0 standard deviation range remain their normal color, showing that price is balanced near the session’s average.


Both the VWAP line and its bands can be customized in the Intraday VWAP settings. Users can adjust the VWAP line color, band colors, and fill transparency. The candle colors can also be modified. The band sizes (1.0 STD and 1.5 STD by default) can be changed through their input multipliers, allowing users to control the sensitivity of the zones.

Please Note: This candle coloring applies only to the Intraday VWAP

🔹Weekly VWAP
The Weekly VWAP measures the average traded price across the current trading week and resets at the start of each new week. It reflects the fair value area that has developed over multiple trading days, providing a broader view of market balance compared to the Intraday VWAP. When price stays close to the Weekly VWAP, it indicates that the week’s trading activity is balanced. When price consistently trades above or below it, the market is moving away from that balance and forming value in a new area.

Standard Deviation Bands:
The Weekly VWAP includes optional standard deviation bands. Users can toggle 1x and 1.5x STD bands. Users can also adjust the multipliers.

Customization:
All colors for the Weekly VWAP and its standard deviation bands can be changed in the indicator’s settings. Users can adjust the VWAP line color, band colors, and fill transparency.

🔹Monthly VWAP
The Monthly VWAP measures the average traded price for the current month and resets on the first trading day of each new month. It provides the broadest view of value within this indicator, showing where the majority of trading has occurred during the current month. When price remains near the Monthly VWAP, it reflects long-term balance.

Standard Deviation Bands:
The Monthly VWAP includes optional 1x and 1.5x standard deviation bands that can be enabled or disabled. In the settings, users can adjust the standard deviation multipliers.

Customization:
The Monthly VWAP line, band colors, and fill transparency can all be modified in the indicator’s settings.

🔹VWAP Dashboard
The VWAP Dashboard provides a quick real-time overview of how price is positioned relative to the Intraday, Weekly, and Monthly VWAPs. It is displayed directly on the chart and updates automatically with each new candle.

The dashboard is divided into five labeled sections:

• Intraday
  
• Weekly
  
• Monthly
  
• Weekly STD
  
• Monthly STD
  

Intraday, Weekly, and Monthly Sections:
These three sections show whether price is currently trading Above or Below each VWAP.

• If price is above a VWAP, that section displays “Bullish”
  
• If price is below a VWAP, that section displays “Bearish”
  

Weekly STD and Monthly STD:
These sections display whether price is currently inside or outside the standard deviation bands of the Weekly and Monthly VWAPs.

• When price is trading within the ±1.0 standard deviation zone, the dashboard output is “Balanced Market”
  

• When price is above the upper standard deviation, price is extending up beyond the week’s or month’s fair value, and the dashboard output is “Bullish Price Discovery”
  

• When price is below the lower standard deviation, price is extending down beyond the week’s or month’s fair value, and the dashboard output is “Bearish Price Discovery”
  

🔹What is a Balanced Market
A balanced market occurs when price is trading within the ±1.0 standard deviation range of a VWAP. This shows that buyers and sellers are in general agreement on value, and trading activity is taking place around the fair value area. In this state, price tends to rotate around the VWAP rather than trend strongly away from it. Balance reflects stability in the auction process, where neither side is dominant and value is being built at current prices.

🔹What is Bullish Price Discovery
Bullish Price Discovery occurs when price trades above the upper standard deviation of a VWAP. This indicates that buyers are accepting higher prices and that value may be shifting upward. In terms of Auction Market Theory, the market is moving away from balance as it searches for a new fair value area above the prior range.

🔹What is Bearish Price Discovery
Bearish Price Discovery occurs when price trades below the lower standard deviation of a VWAP. This shows that sellers are accepting lower prices and that value may be developing beneath the prior area of balance. The market is moving out of equilibrium as participants test lower prices to find new fair value.

Session Volume Profile:
🔹Why this feature is included:
The Session Volume Profile is included to show where trading activity occurred within each session. It visually represents the volume traded at each price, helping to identify where market participants considered value to be. This ties directly to Auction Market Theory, which views markets as auctions seeking balance between buyers and sellers. The profile highlights those balance areas and shows where volume thins out, helping distinguish between value areas and areas of rejection.

🔹How is the Session Volume Profile calculated and displayed:
At the start of each selected session window, the indicator creates a new volume profile and tracks every bar in that session. For each candle, it saves the high, low, open, close, volume, and time. When the HD (High Definition) setting is enabled, and your chart is between the 1-minute and 30-minute timeframes (recommended), the indicator requests lower-timeframe data and feeds the profile with 1-minute candlesticks for more detail. The running session high and low define the vertical bounds of the volume profile. That span is split into a fixed number of rows. Each row represents a price slice. For every bar and every price row, the indicator checks whether the bar’s high-low range touches that row. If it does, it adds part of the bar’s volume to that row. The allocation uses a step-to-bar-size ratio, so that narrow bars do not overload a tall row and tall bars contribute proportionally across all rows they cross. If the bar closes above its open, that row’s “up” volume bucket is incremented. If it closes below its open, the “down” bucket is incremented. After all bars are processed, the row with the highest total becomes the Point of Control (POC). Starting from that row, the indicator expands upward and downward, adding adjacent rows until the cumulative total reaches your Value Area percentage. The upper boundary is Value Area High (VAH), and the lower boundary is Value Area Low (VAL).

For rendering, each price row becomes a horizontal box drawn from the session start time to a length proportional to that row’s volume versus the session’s maximum row volume. If you choose “Up / Down” volume, the row is split into two adjoining boxes that show the up and down portions. If you choose “Total,” a single box is drawn to the total length. If you choose “Delta,” the length reflects the absolute difference between up and down. The POC is drawn as a line across the row midpoint. VAH and VAL are drawn at the exact prices of the top and bottom value rows. While a session is open the profile keeps updating as new bars form. When the session ends, the script fixes its start and end and stops changing that profile. To avoid any issues with drawing limits, the indicator only renders the two most recent session volume profiles.

Settings:

🔹Enabled
Turns the Session Volume Profile on or off. When disabled, no session profiles, lines, or volume boxes are displayed.

🔹HD
Stands for High Definition. When enabled, the indicator requests data from the 1-minute timeframe to build a smoother, more detailed volume profile. This produces finer row distribution and more accurate POC, VAH, and VAL positioning, especially on higher chart timeframes.

🔹POC Line
Toggles the visibility of the Point of Control line. The POC represents the price level with the highest traded volume in the session. It’s drawn horizontally across the chart at that price, and its color can be customized in settings.

🔹VAH
Controls the display of the Value Area High line. The VAH is the top boundary of the range that contains the specified percentage of total traded volume (default 70%). It marks where volume starts to thin out above fair value. Users can turn it on or off and customize its color.

🔹VAL
Controls the display of the Value Area Low line. The VAL is the lower boundary of the value area and marks where volume thins out below fair value. Its visibility and color can also be customized.

🔹Session
This setting allows users to define the start and end time of the trading session used to calculate the session volume profile. Only bars within this time window are included in the volume profile. When a session ends, the volume profile locks, and a new one begins automatically when the next session begins based on the user’s input.

🔹Volume
Controls how the histogram rows are displayed:

• Up/Down: Splits each price row into two parts: one for bullish candles (Up volume) and one for bearish candles (Down volume). This helps visualize buying versus selling pressure at each price.
  

• Total: Combines both Up and Down volume into a single-colored bar for each price level. Since direction isn’t separated, this view focuses purely on where trading activity was concentrated, regardless of which side was in control. A tall bar means strong participation and interest at that price.
  

• Delta: Displays the difference between up and down volume (Up/Down) for each row, highlighting which side controlled that price area.
  

🔹Value Area Volume
The Value Area Volume setting defines how much of the total session volume is considered the “value area.” By default, it’s 70%, meaning the indicator finds the price range where 70% of all trading took place during that session. This area is where buyers and sellers agreed the most on price, also known as the fair value zone.

If you increase the percentage (for example, to 80%), the value area becomes wider and includes more of the session’s trading range. Lowering it (for example, to 60%) makes it narrower, focusing only on the prices with the heaviest activity.

🔹Row Size
The Row Size controls how detailed the volume profile looks. It decides how many price levels (rows) the profile is divided into. Smaller values make the profile smoother and easier to read but less precise. Larger values add more detail and show exactly where volume clustered, but they can make the profile look denser.

The maximum value is 450 rows, and the minimum value is 5 rows. Higher values (especially above 200) can make the volume profile appear more detailed but may also cause performance issues or partial rendering on TradingView charts due to the platform’s drawing object limits. For most users, values between 50–150 give a good balance between clarity and performance.

25 Rows vs. 200 Rows:


Composite Volume Profile:
The Composite Volume Profile shows how volume is distributed across a larger selected range instead of just one session. It helps traders see where the most trading activity has taken place over multiple days. This gives a picture of long-term balance areas and important price zones that have repeatedly attracted buyers and sellers.

The Composite Profile uses the same base logic and visual settings as the Session Volume Profile, including POC Line, VAH, VAL, Volume Type, Value Area Volume, Row Size, and Colors. Any customization applied to those settings also affects the Composite Profile, ensuring a consistent appearance across both features.

🔹Session Count Setting:
This setting controls how many past sessions are merged into one composite volume profile. For example, if the Session Count is set to 5, and each session represents one trading day, the profile combines data from the last 5 trading days. A “session” refers to the time window defined in the Session Volume Profile settings.

🔹How is the Composite Volume Profile used?
In Auction Market Theory, markets move through phases of balance and imbalance as traders agree on value before moving to explore new ones. The Composite Volume Profile shows where that long-term balance has formed. Large, wide areas on the profile indicate zones where multiple sessions agreed on value. Thin areas show prices that were quickly rejected, where less time and volume were traded. Combining short-term session profiles into a composite helps identify when the market is holding near established value or entering new price discovery, confirming transitions between balance and price discovery.

Low Volume Zones:
🔹What are Low Volume Zones?
Low Volume Zones (LVZs) are price areas where trading activity was minimal compared to surrounding levels. On a volume profile, they appear as thin “valleys” between two high-volume “peaks.” These valleys show where the market moved too quickly for significant two-way trade to occur. In Auction Market Theory, they represent inefficient areas, meaning the market didn’t find fair value, so price either skipped through or rejected those levels.

🔹How are Low Volume Zones found?
The indicator identifies Low Volume Zones (LVZs) directly from Session Volume Profiles (SVPs) by analyzing the shape of its volume distribution. Each SVP is built from a series of horizontal rows, where each row represents the total traded volume within a narrow price range. The longer the row, the higher the trading activity at that price.

The indicator first locates the two largest high-volume peaks on the profile. These peaks represent the strongest areas of market activity. Once these two main peaks are found, the indicator looks on both sides of each peak for the lowest-volume row in the surrounding area. Those small-volume dips define the boundaries of the Low Volume Zones.

Each high-volume peak can therefore generate two LVZs (one above and one below it), resulting in a maximum of four Low Volume Zones per volume profile. If two LVZs overlap or share the same price range, they are automatically merged into a single larger zone, which may reduce the total count to three or fewer.


🔹How are Low Volume Zones used?
Low Volume Zones (LVZs) mark areas where the market previously traded with little participation. In Auction Market Theory, these zones represent inefficient price areas where buyers and sellers failed to agree on value. When price returns to an LVZ, it may act as an area where price tends to react differently due to lower previous trading activity. If the market still sees that area as unfair, price will reject it and reverse quickly. If the market now accepts that price level, volume builds and price moves through it smoothly as the auction seeks new balance. Traders use LVZs to identify where price may react sharply or move quickly through thin areas. When price approaches a zone from above or below, it signals potential rejection or continuation.

🔹LVZ Breaks and Retests
The indicator automatically tracks how price interacts with every detected LVZ.
A Break occurs when price fully moves through the entire LVZ and closes past it. When this happens, the indicator plots a small blue triangle.
A Retest occurs when price touches an LVZ and reverses away, showing rejection. When price comes down to a level, taps it, and continues up, it’s considered a bullish retest, and a small green triangle is plotted. When price comes up to a level, taps it, and continues down, it’s considered a bearish retest, and a small red triangle is plotted.


🔹LVZ Settings

Enabled:
Toggles LVZ detection and visualization on or off.

Realtime:
Allows LVZs to form dynamically as the current session develops, updating live as volume builds or thins out. When disabled, zones only appear once the session closes.

Please note: When this setting is enabled, zones may update or shift while the current session is still forming. Because the Session Volume Profile is continuously recalculating with new data, both the volume distribution and detected zones can change until the session closes.

Row Pivot Length:
Controls how far above and below each price row the indicator looks when identifying the highest and lowest volume points that define each Low Volume Zone. Larger values make the indicator compare a wider range of rows, while smaller values keep the analysis closer to each row’s immediate area.

Last SVPs:
Defines how many recent Session Volume Profiles are used for LVZs. For example, setting it to 3 limits LVZ detection to the last three sessions only.

Retests and Breaks:
Enables or disables the display of the retest and break markers described above.

Checklist:
The Checklist is a manual on-chart dashboard that allows traders to keep track of specific market conditions before entering a trade. Each checklist item can be toggled on or off in the indicator’s settings. When enabled, a checkmark emoji appears next to that item on the dashboard. When disabled, an X emoji appears next to that item.

This feature is designed to help traders visually confirm important steps in their process, such as reviewing trend direction, VWAP alignment, or session context. The checklist can also be repositioned anywhere on the chart using the “Location” setting for better visibility and layout preference.


Watermark:
The Watermark feature displays key chart information directly in the background, including the current ticker symbol, selected timeframe, and date. The watermark’s size, color, and transparency can be adjusted in the settings.


UNIQUENESS:
The VWAP Wave System Toolkit is unique because it brings every part of Auction Market Theory to the chart. It shows how value builds and shifts by combining Initial Balance levels, multi-timeframe VWAPs, and volume profiles. The indicator automatically marks low-volume zones where the market moved too quickly, highlights breaks and retests, and tracks how price interacts with fair value across sessions, weeks, and months. Every feature works together to give a simple view of balance, imbalance, and value development as the auction unfolds.