POC (Point of Control)
The price where trading lingered the longest in the Market Profile — treated as the center-of-gravity price where the most trading gathered that day.
POC = the price of the single row with the longest run of letters when TPOs (time traded at each price level) are stacked
If price is above the POC, trading is happening above that day's center of gravity; if below, on the lower side.
In plain terms
When you stack letters with TPO, some prices end up with an unusually long run of letters. The price of that longest row is the POC. Think of it as the price where trading lingered the longest that day — the price where buyers and sellers met most often.
Put simply, it's "the price most people treated as roughly right for this stock today." Picture the fattest part in the middle of a bell-shaped distribution.
What it tells you
The POC shows, as a single point, the price the market traded most that day. Traders view this price as a kind of center of gravity and watch whether price drifts away from it and gets pulled back.
When POCs from several days cluster in one place, that price zone is sometimes read as an area the market treats as important.
Formula
POC = the price of the single row with the longest run of letters when TPOs (time traded at each price level) are stacked = the price where trading lingered the longest that day
What high or low means
If price is above the POC, trading is happening above that day's center of gravity; if below, on the lower side. So the POC is referenced like a centerline that price tends to return to.
That said, it's just a price produced by the trading distribution of that day or that stretch. If the next day's flow changes, the POC moves too.
The POC is the price where trading lingered longest — not a correct price or a fair corporate value. It's a point made by time distribution, so it has nothing to do with the company's fundamentals.
The POC sits in a different place depending on the time unit you look at (a day, a week, a month). If you don't fix the period you're viewing, the meaning gets blurry.
Stocklore does not plot the POC on charts. It's a specialized tool for short-term trading, so we only include an explanation here for when you hear the term on market broadcasts or trading platforms and come looking.
Metrics to read alongside
See it in real stocks
Search US stocks on Stocklore to see SEC-filing-based financial metrics alongside the sector benchmark.
This explanation is for information and reference only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Investment decisions and their consequences are your own.