Order flow & volume
Read what actually moves price
26 detailed guides on order flow and volume-based analysis — the order book and DOM, delta and cumulative delta, footprint charts, imbalances, absorption, volume and market profile, VWAP flow and tape reading. Every guide comes with a purpose-built, engine-drawn diagram. Free, no signup.
Order-flow foundations
The plumbing: the order book, DOM, bid and ask, market vs limit orders, the tape and liquidity.
What Is Order Flow? The Order Book & DOM ExplainedOrder flow is the real-time stream of buy and sell orders that actually moves price. Learn the order book, the DOM ladder, bid, ask and how trades happen.Market Orders vs Limit Orders: Who Moves PriceMarket orders take liquidity and move price; limit orders provide liquidity and wait. Learn how the two order types interact, who pays the spread, and which one actually pushes the market.Reading the Tape: Time & Sales ExplainedTime and sales — the tape — is the running record of every executed trade: time, price, size, and which side was aggressive. Learn to read the prints, the pace, and how the tape complements the DOM.Liquidity in Trading: Where It Sits and Why It MattersLiquidity is how much size can trade near the current price without moving it. Learn its two dimensions, where it sits in and around the book, and why thick liquidity stalls price while thin liquidity lets it run.The Bid-Ask Spread & Slippage ExplainedThe spread is the gap between the best bid and best ask — the price of immediacy. Slippage is the difference between the price you expected and the price you got. Learn what drives both and how to control them.
Delta & footprint
Who is aggressive: volume delta, cumulative delta, footprint charts, imbalances, absorption and exhaustion.
Footprint Charts Explained: Bid × Ask, Delta & ImbalancesA footprint chart opens up each candle to show the volume traded at the bid and the ask at every price. Learn to read delta, the point of control and stacked imbalances.Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD): Tracking Aggression Over TimeCVD is the running total of buy minus sell volume. Learn how it confirms trends, and how CVD divergence against price warns of exhaustion and absorption.Volume Delta Explained: Buy vs Sell AggressionVolume delta is aggressive buy volume minus aggressive sell volume in a bar. Learn how trades are tagged at the bid or ask, how to read the delta histogram, and when delta confirms or contradicts price.Bid/Ask Imbalances & Stacked ImbalancesA bid/ask imbalance is a lopsided price cell where one side's volume dwarfs the other's, compared diagonally. Learn the 3-to-1 rule, why the comparison is diagonal, and how stacked imbalances flag aggression that matters.Absorption in Order Flow: When Aggression FailsAbsorption is when aggressive market orders are soaked up by a large passive trader's resting limits and price refuses to move. Learn the mechanics, how it looks on a footprint, and how it differs from exhaustion.Exhaustion & Trapped Traders in Order FlowExhaustion is the final burst of aggression at the end of a move — big delta, no new ground — after which latecomers are trapped and must exit, fuelling the reversal. Learn to spot both.Delta Divergence: Price Up, Aggression DownDelta divergence is when price makes a new extreme but delta does not — a new high on weaker buying, or a new low on weaker selling. Learn bar-delta versus CVD divergence, both directions, and how to confirm it.Stacked Imbalances as Support & ResistanceStacked imbalances leave a footprint of concentrated aggression that often acts as support or resistance on a retest. Learn why they hold, which price to mark, and how they behave when price returns.
Volume & market profile
Where price is accepted: volume profile, point of control, value area, high- and low-volume nodes and TPO.
Volume Profile Explained: POC, Value Area & Volume NodesVolume profile plots how much volume traded at each price, not each time. Learn the point of control, value area, and high- and low-volume nodes — and how to trade them.Volume Profile Types: Session, Composite & Visible RangeA volume profile can be scoped to one session, to a fixed multi-day window, or to whatever is on screen. Learn session, composite and visible-range profiles and when to use each.Trading the Value Area & Point of ControlThe point of control and value area are the profile's most tradable levels. Learn to fade rotations, follow accepted breakouts, apply the 80% rule and read the open against prior value.High- and Low-Volume Nodes: Reading the Profile's ShapeThe peaks and valleys of a volume profile map where price sticks and where it flies. Learn HVNs, LVNs, profile shapes like D, P and b, and how node structure becomes tradable levels.Market Profile & TPO: The Auction FrameworkMarket Profile organises the day as an auction, using time-price opportunities (TPOs) to build a distribution. Learn TPOs, the initial balance, tails, single prints and day types.
VWAP & volume
The volume-weighted benchmark and volume behaviour: VWAP, anchored VWAP, climax, dry-up and effort vs result.
VWAP & Order Flow: The Institutional BenchmarkVWAP is the volume-weighted average price and the benchmark institutions are measured against. Learn how it is built, why order flow clusters around it, and how CVD confirms or warns.Anchored VWAP: Fair Value From Any EventAnchored VWAP starts the volume-weighted average from an event you choose, revealing the average cost basis of everyone who traded since then. Learn where to anchor and why it acts as support and resistance.Volume Climax & Dry-Up: Reading Volume ExtremesThe two ends of the volume spectrum both signal turns. Learn to read a climax spike as capitulation or a blow-off, a volume dry-up as exhausted supply or demand, and how per-bar delta exposes each.Effort vs Result: The Wyckoff Volume PrincipleWyckoff called volume effort and price movement result. Learn how their harmony confirms a move, how their divergence exposes absorption and ease of movement, and how delta makes effort visible.
Reading the DOM & tape
Putting it to work: order-book imbalance, absorption reversals, icebergs, spoofing and ladder scalping.
Reading Order-Book Imbalance on the DOMOrder-book imbalance is when resting size on one side of the DOM heavily outweighs the other. Learn to read it on the ladder, what it can and cannot tell you, and why the biggest walls so often fail to hold.Iceberg Orders & Spoofing: The DOM's Blind SpotsThe DOM never shows the whole book. Iceberg orders hide real size behind a small visible tip, while spoofing posts fake size that is cancelled before it trades. Learn to spot both and trade around the DOM's blind spots.Scalping the DOM Ladder: Reading Depth in Real TimeDOM scalping is very short-term trading read straight off the depth ladder — pulling, stacking, absorption and the pace of the tape. Learn what to watch, how to manage risk, and the hard realities of who you are competing against.Absorption Reversal: Fading Failed Aggression at a LevelAn absorption reversal fades aggression that fails at a known level: buyers hammer resistance, a passive seller absorbs it, price rejects, and you trade the failure. Learn the setup, trigger, and risk control.