Technical indicator

VWAP (Volume-Weighted Average Price)

VWAP is the volume-weighted average of the prices traded since a chosen starting point. Prices that traded on heavy volume affect the average more. Crypto has no sessions, so VWAP is anchored to a point: usually the start of the UTC day, the week, or a chosen event.

The dashed vertical line is the anchor point (00:00 UTC). The dashed orange line is the previous day's VWAP and the solid orange line the new day's. High-volume candles pull VWAP more.

Which question does VWAP answer?

VWAP answers this question: since the starting point, at what average price have trades taken place? In a simple average every candle carries equal weight. In VWAP each candle carries as much weight as the volume traded in it.

So VWAP is close to the average price paid by those who traded in that period. If price is above VWAP, it is trading above the weighted average of the period's volume; if below, the opposite.

How it is calculated

Find each candle's typical price. Typical price = (high + low + close) ÷ 3.
Multiply by volume. Each candle's typical price is multiplied by the volume traded in that candle.
Add up from the starting point. Both the price × volume products and the volumes are summed cumulatively from the anchor point.
Take the ratio. VWAP = cumulative (typical price × volume) ÷ cumulative volume. At a new anchor point both sums reset to zero.

The anchor point

In markets with sessions, VWAP resets each day at the session open. Crypto trades 24/7, so there is no natural session start; the user or the platform decides where VWAP starts. The most common choice is the start of the UTC day (00:00 UTC). A weekly VWAP starts on Monday at 00:00 UTC, a monthly one on the first day of the month.

An anchored VWAP starts from a specific event instead: an important low or high, a breakout candle, or the candle where a sharp move began. VWAP then shows the average price of everyone who has traded since that event. Change the anchor and VWAP changes too, so the starting point should always be stated.

How it is commonly read

Fair-value reference: VWAP is often read as the period's "average traded price". How far price moves from VWAP shows how far it has strayed from that average.
Above VWAP: price is holding above the period's weighted average. In intraday rises, pullbacks sometimes come back down to VWAP.
Below VWAP: price is holding below the period's weighted average. In declines, bounces sometimes come back up to VWAP.
Crossing back and forth: if price keeps switching sides of VWAP, the market is balanced for the period and VWAP gives no directional information.

The further from the anchor point, the larger the cumulative volume and the smaller each new candle's effect on VWAP. That is why VWAP moves more slowly towards the end of the day.

What it shows, what it does not prove

What it shows

The volume-weighted average price of trades since the anchor point
Whether price is trading above or below that average
How the prices where more volume traded pull the average

What it does not prove

That price will return to VWAP or react at it
That there is a single correct VWAP; the result depends on the anchor point and the exchange's volume
The average of all trades across the market; it reflects only the exchange the chart takes its data from

The MarketLevelMap view

How it relates to zones

VWAP is an average that moves through the day; support and resistance zones are fixed areas where price has reacted before. When price approaches a zone and VWAP sits inside or just next to it, two different references overlap in the same price range. That overlap can be read as the range being watched by more people.

VWAP is a single line, but price usually moves back and forth around it within a band. So it is sounder to read VWAP not as an exact limit but as an area, just as with zones.

Often confused with

For general information only. Not investment advice.Last updated: 23 October 2026