Initial Balance (IB)
Volume Profile Analysis glossary · Auction Theory & Market Profile (TPO)
Definition
The price range established during the first specified period of a trading session (conventionally the first 60 minutes). Provides an early read on session character.
Initial Balance (IB) in plain English
The Initial Balance is simply the highest and lowest price reached during the opening stretch of the day — conventionally the first 60 minutes. Think of it as the first hour of a negotiation that sets the rough goalposts everyone references for the rest of the day. Traders watch it because how the rest of the session behaves relative to that early range tells them a lot about the day's mood — calm and range-bound, or trending and energetic.
Also called: IB
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