Get a profile on screen
- On sample data. CutlassEdge opens here on first run, so a profile is already in front of you.
- On a live feed. Open the Data tab, type a symbol like ES or NQ, and connect (see Connect a data feed). The current session draws and then goes live.
- From a file. On the start screen, choose Import and pick a CSV of bars.
How a profile is built
Price runs up the side, low at the bottom and high at the top. As the session trades, CutlassEdge marks each price with a letter, called a TPO (Time Price Opportunity). Each letter stands for one period of time, 30 minutes by default. The first half hour is A, the next is B, and so on. When the market trades a price again in a later period, another letter stacks beside the first.
Stack those letters over a whole session and you get the profile's shape: a wide middle where the market spent the most time, tapering to thin edges where it spent the least. That shape is the day's auction drawn as a picture. The more letters at a price, the more time the market spent there, and the more it accepted that price as fair.
The main parts
POC (Point of Control). The price with the most letters: the most-traded, most-accepted price of the session. It is the profile's center of gravity, and price tends to rotate back toward it. CutlassEdge marks it clearly.
Value area (VAH to VAL). The band around the POC that holds about 70% of the session's trade, where buyers and sellers agreed on value. The top edge is the VAH (Value Area High) and the bottom is the VAL (Value Area Low). The edges are where a lot of decisions get made.
The volume profile. Next to the letters, CutlassEdge can show how much actually traded at each price. On an Interactive Brokers (bar) feed this is an estimate; on a Databento (tick) feed it is the exact executed number. There is more on that difference in TPO and volume profile.
Initial Balance (IB). The range of the first hour, the first two 30-minute periods. It frames the early two-sided auction. When price trades beyond it, that is called range extension.
Tails and single prints. The thin edges of the profile, prices touched by only one period. They mark fast, one-sided moves the auction did not pause on.
The current price. A live marker shows where price is right now, moving at market speed while the letters and volume rebuild a few seconds behind it.
Three ways to view it
CutlassEdge shows the same data three ways. Switch between them in the View section of the settings rail.
- Single. One session's profile on its own. The best view for learning the parts and reading a single day.
- Multi. Many sessions side by side, each its own profile, so you can see how value moved from day to day.
- Composite. Several sessions merged into one profile, which reveals the longer-term value areas and levels a single day cannot show.
Moving around
- Pick a day. Use the rail to jump to any session you have data for.
- Zoom. Use the zoom controls or your mouse wheel to move in and out. The fit button frames the recent days, and there is a shortcut to fit all of your history.
- Adjust the profile. The settings rail has sections for the TPO periods (the 30-minute default), the value area percentage, and the POC, so you can match your own style.
- Share it. Export PNG puts a clean chart image on your clipboard or disk, watermark and all, ready to post.
Set it up like Charles's, in one click
You do not have to build your setup from scratch. In the Workspace section of the settings rail, click Captain's Workspace. It sets your chart to Charles's exact setup: the profile sets, colors, and auto references he uses. Your own data, alerts, and saved levels stay yours.
Every term is defined in the app
You do not have to memorize any of this. CutlassEdge carries its own glossary, and in the Read tab you can hover or click a term to see its definition without leaving the chart.
When you are ready to go from what the profile *is* to what it is *telling you*, start with Day and opening types.