Value Area High & Low
70% of the session's volume by definition. VAH and VAL are the edges of fair. Outside that range you are by definition in a price discovery zone.
The Value Area is the price range that contains 70% of the session's traded volume. The high end is VAH, the low end is VAL. By statistical definition, this is where the market agreed value was — not the average, not the close, but the range where most business actually happened.
VAH and VAL are the most-watched intraday levels by institutional desks for one reason: they're the line between 'accepted' and 'being probed.' Inside the value area, you're in balance. Outside, you're either in price discovery or being rejected back in.
The three opening relationships matter: open inside value, open above value, open below value. Each one carries a different statistical expectation for what the rest of the day looks like. None of them is a trade by itself — they're context.
How to actually trade those three opens — which one fades, which one extends, what to do when an extension fails — that's the engine of the paid course.