Jim Dalton: Market Profile and the Auction Process

Trader's Library #107 · Technical analysis. The market as an auction: value area, day types and acceptance of price levels.

Author: James F. Dalton (with Eric T. Jones and Robert B. Dalton) · Original: Mind Over Markets; Markets in Profile; Markets & Momentum · Year: 1990 · Usefulness for traders: ★★★★★

What it's about

Three books by Jim Dalton, who has been popularising Market Profile since the 1980s – the method created by J. Peter Steidlmayer at the CBOT in Chicago. “Mind Over Markets” (1990, updated edition 2013) is the core textbook: the market as an auction searching for a price both sides accept, the time-price profile (TPO), the value area, the initial balance and day types. “Markets in Profile” (2007) combines the profile with behavioural finance and shows how participants' behaviour creates repeatable market structure. “Markets & Momentum” (2025) is the latest book, written with Robert Dalton: the profile combined with trader psychology and typical mistakes such as fading a trend day.

What it gives a trader

These are books about how the futures market really works on an exchange with one central order book, such as the CME. Instead of chart patterns you get the questions a professional trader asks: where is value, has price moved outside it, and is the market accepting or rejecting the new price. For an intraday index trader, e.g. on MYM, this is the language used to describe every session: the open relative to the previous day's value, the POC, a break out of the initial balance, a trend day or a balanced day. Today's volume profile and order flow tools rest on the same foundation.

Lessons for traders

• the market is an auction: price looks for where trade is most active, and the extremes are where the auction stopped
• what matters is not touching a level but whether the market stays outside value (acceptance) or quickly returns (rejection)
• recognising the day type in the first hours tells you whether to trade the range or not to fight the direction
• the most expensive mistake is fading a trend day because “it has already gone too far”

What to watch out for

The books have no Polish edition (as of October 2026), only the English originals. “Mind Over Markets” can be dense and needs practice on the chart, ideally during live sessions, not just reading. The profile describes structure and context but gives no ready-made trades: it is a map of the market, not a system.

Discussion

The discussion takes place in Hetman Capital Club (in Polish). Join the discussion in the Club →

Navigation

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Educational content, not investment advice. The book description is my own summary and assessment, not quotations. Edition details were checked in catalogues and bookshops, and where there was doubt I said so plainly.