Who this entry is for — Anyone trading 24-hour markets where the session no longer matches capital flow. CBOT Study Guide, Part IV (1996).
Source: CBOT, Market Profile Home Study Guide (1996), Part IV. Raw:
raw/patrimonio-emiciclo/studio-steidlmayer/cbot/part-04-distribuzione.
Prerequisites
Market Logic principles, Equilibrium and imbalance.
Natural unit
With capital entering off-floor at any hour, the session is artificial. Steidlmayer uses distribution: flow that starts when money enters/exits and ends when it neutralises into a bell curve.
The market does only two things: distribute (imbalance, vertical axis) or develop (balance, horizontal axis). The market is the whole; marketplaces (Tokyo, London, Chicago) are the parts.
| Control | Mode | Strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Balanced (development) | Fade |
| Market activity | Imbalanced (distribution) | Go with the move |
Four-step schema
- Beginning — Perceived under/overvaluation → directional move.
- Balancing — Reaction: participants assess and pause.
- Test — Lateral rotation inside the balance area.
- New move — Continuation or direction change.
3-1-3 patterns
| Label | Sequence | Shape | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-2-3 | Rotations → directional move | J / teardrop | Balance to imbalance |
| 3-2-1 | Directional move → rotations | J / teardrop | Imbalance to balance |
| 3-1-3 | Excess — value — excess | Bell curve | «Ultimate common denominator» |
- 1st standard deviation ↔ value area (fair price, high volume).
- 3rd standard deviation ↔ excess (unfair price, low volume).
Two opposite J-shapes (3-2-1 + 1-2-3) form a composite with value at the centre.
Price influence
| Influence | Effect | Phase |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | Moves away from control price | Distribution (trend) |
| Backward | Returns to control price | Development (trading range) |
The longest timeframe controls all others: a near-term breakout fails if the long period stays under backward influence.
Four outcomes after a completed distribution (Steidlmayer, New Market Discoveries): green/yellow = imbalanced new beginning (continuation or change); red/white = balanced rotation (test or continuation in same area).
Common mistake — Reading every range extension as a new trend. Without separating distribution from development in the right timeframe, rotation is confused with direction.