Open Auction (OA)

Definition

Open Auction (OA) in plain English

First, 'value' just means the price zone where most trading happened recently — the neighborhood everyone already agreed felt fair. An Open Auction opening is when the market starts the day by drifting back and forth in a tight little range right around that old fair-price zone, with nobody making a strong move. It's the market shrugging: buyers and sellers basically agree yesterday's prices still look about right, so there's no urgency and no clear direction yet. Traders read it as 'wait and see' — the day hasn't picked a story.

Learn these first

• Balanced profile

Related Volume Profile Analysis terms

• Ask
• ATR (Average True Range)
• Auction Market Theory
• Below value
• Bid
• Break-even stop
• Buying tail
• Day type
• Excess
• Excess high / Excess low