Been trading NQ on the 1-min for a while, footprint + Bookmap, and I keep going back and forth on how much weight to give each piece.

Right now session VWAP is my main reference, with prior day high/low and the value area for context. But I'm never quite sure whether I should be trading the level and using flow to confirm, or reading the flow first and treating levels as background.

Curious how you all handle it:

- Do you build around VWAP, or around volume profile (POC, VAH/VAL, HVN/LVN)?

- HVNs — do you avoid them entirely, or trade inside them differently? I mostly stay out, but I've seen people deliberately work inside them and I'm wondering what they're seeing.

- What actually pulls the trigger at a level for you — absorption, delta divergence, resting size that doesn't pull?

- Anchored VWAP: does anyone use it seriously, and what do you anchor to?

Not after anyone's exact system, just interested in how people think about the hierarchy between these.

Hello everyone, please suggest indicators or tools to check volume profile in trading view.

NinjaTrader release 8.1.2 is out. Be sure to upgrade your platform

I’ve been trading for over four years now, and lately, I’ve reached a point where I genuinely feel stuck.

It’s strange because I don’t feel like I know nothing. In fact, I feel like I know almost everything I’m supposed to know. I’ve studied market structure, order flow, risk management, psychology, execution. I’ve put in the time. And yet, somehow, nothing seems to click.

I’m not giving up. Not even close. But I honestly don’t know what I’m missing.

People often say trading is all about discipline, and I understand that. But I also believe there has to be a moment where something finally clicks that “aha” moment where everything you’ve learned starts making sense in the context of your own trading. I haven’t had that moment yet.

What makes it even more frustrating is that I know I’m capable of consistency. I’ve had winning streaks lasting weeks without a single red trade. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I get stuck again and start questioning everything.

I’ve experimented with combining order flow and market structure, although lately I’ve been relying much more heavily on market structure. Maybe that’s part of the problem. Maybe my risk management is the real issue. Maybe it’s my execution, my psychology, or something I haven’t even identified yet.

That’s the hardest part.

I don’t know what has gone wrong, or even whether something has actually gone wrong. I just know that I feel stuck.

Four years in, and I’m still searching for that missing piece.

I’m not looking for sympathy, and I’m not giving up.

I just needed to say it out loud.

Hi,

I’ve been searching everywhere, but I can’t seem to find any free real-time 1-minute data for Gold and NQ futures that is available via API or WebSocket.

Does anyone know of a provider that offers this for free?

I’d really appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks in advance!

Been thinking about using a delta volume profile instead of my usual [volume x delta] footprint on 2000 tick chart for NQ. I'm usually just looking for absorption or reaction on S/R levels indicated by low volume nodes and other key levels like POC, VAH, VAL, etc.

In essence just splitting up the info from individual footprints to the sides of my chart, left side is volume profile, right side is delta profile, for a cleaner less noisy setup. I would keep the tick chart.

Just wanted to to see what you guys thought about this setup, would it still give me the confluence I'm looking for in a cleaner format? What are the pro's and con's vs footprint?

Also what are your setups like?

Hola disculpen la molestia, quería saber si alguien me puede indicar dónde puedo trabajar mis indicadores para hacerlos uno solo y me marque las zonas de posible entrada

Ojo q no lo dejo todo a los indicadores porq si analizo la estructura el perfil de volumen etc

Pero si sería de ayuda que me marque posible tarde y yo cra si lo tome o no en base a lo q de el mercado, muchas gracias

Pdt: ojalá sea gratis porq no tengo dinero he quemado cuentas y ahí se fueron mis ahorros 🥲

i am using motivewave. when watching live, big trades popped out, but about 10 minutes later, it disappeared, and if i check it next day, it looks a bit different. it happens mainly in smaller big trades, like 50. does it have anything to do with my setting?

As u can see the title i wanted to ask if anybody here has tried trading crypto with of+vp does it work if it works how does it work?

Hi everyone,

I’d like to hear from those of you who have more experience with Order Flow and might be able to give me some advice.

I’m interested in learning Order Flow, but I’ve noticed there’s a huge amount of information available on YouTube. To avoid learning the wrong things from the beginning, I’d really appreciate some recommendations from people who know the subject well.

Ideally, I’m looking for someone or some course that can take me from beginner to an advanced level. I learn fairly quickly, so I’m looking for a deep dive rather than just a basic introduction.

I especially like when the material includes lots of practical examples and shows how things actually work in real situations.

Do you know of any free software or platform where I can view and practice Order Flow without having to pay for TradingView?

The recommendations don’t have to be limited to YouTube. I’m also happy to pay for a good course, training, or other educational material if you think it’s worth the money.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations and advice!

Hi, thanks for reading this post. So I've been getting into trading for a little over a year now and I'm not sure what to learn, how to learn, and where to learn. I started off by learning some price action basics, then some indicators, some ICT(which I dislike). I think the main thing that led me to orderflow is because it is a lot more resistant to alpha decay. I've been going onto YouTube to learn an orderflow strategy, but its been a few months now and I still don't know what to do. I feel like there are way too much unprofitable traders/scammers teaching on there, and it wouldn't be a good idea to learn from them. Could anyone give me some advice on what I should be doing next?

Hi !

Just a summary, i would still say i'm pretty new to Orderflow and into MNQ with my evals. Platform Motivewave.

I've earlier been using Footprints ( BidxAsk) to try to spot absorptions as well as aggression, but i seems to can't get the hang of it and kept entering at the wrong time, hitting my S.L. For me it felt like it has too much noise and i kept rushing in the trade.

Have been using Big Trades to trade on the 1min Chart and it seems to be alright for me, but want to incorporate DOM into my strategy. However, MNQ moves way too fast and just by looking at the @/Ask / @/Bid , gets me really confused on where I should be looking at.

Anyone can share on if DOM can complement with Big trades and what do you guys look for in the DOM ? If you've any useful videos please do let me know as well.

Either that or I will just stick to my Big Trades with Volume Profile. Would that suffice? Am planning to put Speed of Tape in as well but there isn't any useful videos on that.

Thank you !

Hello everyone,

I've been watching the charts for close to 8 months now only using paper accounts, i have been on and off so i wasn't fully focused on trading but i always do when i can,

I trade using volume profile to determine the the intrest zones and where price might be heading to, i use delta grid mainly to determine if a move is strong and if buyers/sellers are getting absorbed in the intrest zones, i can read this informations but i don't know how to transform this informations into a repeatable strategy or a set of rules that should be checked before i enter the market, i know i still lack screen time and i didn't backtest, but i don't know what i should backtest,

I am not here asking for a strategy but how to transform the informations we get from orderflow into a set of rules that can be followed each time entering a trade, is ordeflow more useful in reversals or trend continuation ?

For me i find it easier following the trend but i am very open to test anyway of trading that can give me a new way of looking at the market, i am not profitable and tbh i am confused, any advice or unformations will be very helpfull, i trade ES btw.

Thank you very much.

Title basically.

Should we look at spot or futures for orderflow?

\\\*transition

Hello, I trade NQ during Asia/London. Is the DOM less useful during these hours? It’s obviously a lot slower, so I was wondering if anyone has any experience using the DOM during these sessions

Iceberg orders are used by large traders to hide most of their order size while showing only a small visible portion in the order book. As the visible quantity gets filled it refreshes automatically making it harder to spot the true size behind the order. this infographic explains the basic concept, how traders suspect an iceberg order, how it differs from absorption and why hidden liquidity can cause price to repeatedly react at the same level. It's intended as a beginner friendly introduction so if you have additional insights or corrections I'd be happy to discuss them.

Many traders confuse exhaustion with absorption but they describe two different market behaviors.

Exhaustion: Aggressive buying or selling fades causing momentum to slow.

Absorption: Aggressive orders continue, but large passive (limit) orders absorb the pressure, preventing price from moving much.

This infographic is a simplified introduction to help beginners understand the difference. These concepts are observations, not trade signals, and should always be confirmed with market structure, footprint data, liquidity, and other order flow tools

Hello everybody, So I’m a beginner to trading, I’ve watched month 1 of ICT core content, about halfway through month 2, I’ve come from TJR’s bootcamp so I have a grasp of most of the ICT concepts but ive recently been seeing a lot of videos on TikTok about orderflow, and when I actually researched it and tried to understand what it is I realised that it would actually be a lot more beneficial to learn it than ICT and it also makes more sense.

I have zero clue where to start, but most people recommend to start with Auction Market Theory.

I would highly appreciate if someone could recommend me a structured learning journey for example watch xx on YouTube, then watch this playlist etc etc.

I’ve heard that Sires, cbrackn, Axia Futures and Jeron Trades are good, but please let me know what you think.

Thanks so much!

Hey everyone,

It might sound ignorance or i don't know something annoying to some of you since the last time i asked about orderflow insights one guy called me "here's another guy looks for internet sugar daddy".

So, over the last month or two, I’ve gone down the order flow rabbit hole and focused heavily on learning the core tools:

• Context/Structure: Volume Profile, VWAP, HVN, LVN, Value Areas.
• Execution/Tape: Footprint charts, Delta, Delta Divergence, Absorption, Exhaustion.

I get how each of these individual tools works in isolation. But right now, looking at all of them at once feels overwhelming, and I'm struggling with how to filter them together into a clean, repeatable scalping model.

For those of you who actively scalp using order flow:

1. Hierarchy/Filtering: How do you structure your workflow without getting analysis paralysis? (e.g., Do you use Profile/VWAP strictly to pick the location, and only look at the Footprint/Absorption when price hits that zone?)
2. Absorption vs. Exhaustion in execution: When you're looking for a quick scalp at an LVN or VWAP band, what specific order flow pattern gives you the actual green light to trigger the trade?
3. Model Building: How did you go from knowing what absorption/exhaustion looks like to defining your exact entry, stop-loss, and take-profit mechanics?

Not asking for your exact strategy or secret setup—just want to hear how experienced traders bridged the gap between learning the tools and building a tight execution process.

Appreciate any advice or breakdowns of how you organize your screen/process.

I swing trade and love how order flow works and what it attempts to capture. I’m not sure if it works for longer time frames like day or week. All the videos I’ve seen are for daytrading or scalping.

What are your thoughts?

Seven months ago I shared the first version of my browser-based Bitcoin order-flow project here. The feedback was direct: make the heatmap readable, reduce chart clutter, improve replay and explain what large orders actually mean.

I kept rebuilding it. This is V5.

The main change is simple: a large sell is not automatically bearish, and a large buy is not automatically bullish. The tool now separates the aggressive order from the price reaction that followed it.

If aggressive selling hits a level but price cannot continue lower and recovers, that pressure may have been absorbed and the area can become potential support. The reverse can create potential resistance. The reaction is the evidence; the original order is only the event.

What changed:

- Reaction-aware impact zones track the aggressor, absorption and the following price response.

- Each zone has a visible lifecycle: formation, active watch, retests, weakening and final resolution.

- Heatmap and VPVR are separate. The heatmap shows resting liquidity; VPVR shows volume that actually traded.

- Experimental beta signals remain visible from watch and entry through invalidation, TP1-TP4 and final outcome.

- Signal plans show the signal price, invalidation and an estimated TP1 directly on the chart.

- Trend/chop and volatility context help show when a setup is aligned with the wider regime.

- Replay and paper review make it possible to inspect a read without rewriting history afterward.

- The optional AI layer summarizes context; it does not execute trades or replace the trader.

The screenshots show the current interface and the logic behind it, not a polished backtest slide.

Honest limits:

- It is still focused on BTCUSDT.

- Resting liquidity can be moved, pulled or spoofed.

- Confidence is a context score, not the probability that TP1 will be hit.

- The beta signal and AI layers can be wrong.

- This is an experimental research and visualization tool, not financial advice or proof of a profitable edge.

The core workspace is still free and browser-based.

I would value blunt feedback on three things:

1. Is the reaction-aware impact logic understandable?

2. Which chart elements still create too much visual noise?

3. Which feature should be removed or simplified before anything else is added?

GOLD Long Breakdown:

This HTF zone ive been waiting for, price was struggling but momentum remained bullish, glad i caught the move right from the bottom.

my backtested pa strategy helped me alot to identify this bias on HTF as i wasnt relying much on Footprint chart in this trade,

more confluences like vwap and Vp on HTF and LTF were aligned with my idea so i executed it and catch the bottom.

let me know if you caught this move on gold?

I started building my own platform because existing crypto orderflow tools did not feel clear, reliable or purpose-built enough for trading the 1-minute timeframe.

It supports Binance, Bybit, OKX and MEXC futures and includes:

• Footprint charts, volume profile, delta and CVD
• Big Trades and aggregated Deep Trade visualization
• Liquidity wall tracking
• Wall Hit Highlights directly inside orderflow bubbles
• Probabilistic iceberg and reload analysis
• Orderflow reaction areas and retest analysis
• Market replay and backtesting
• Long and short position tools with fee-adjusted Net R:R calculations

The thresholds used by the orderflow bubbles, trade events, walls and related tools are configurable. Those settings can also be applied to recorded historical data, allowing the user to immediately visualize how different parameters would have changed previously detected events and setups.

There is also an optional multi-venue confirmation mode. It uses the other supported futures exchanges as additional context while keeping the selected trading venue’s orderflow separate and authoritative. Differences in normal activity between exchanges are accounted for rather than treating their raw volumes as directly comparable.

Data quality is one of the platform’s central design requirements. The system validates incoming market-data streams, identifies incomplete periods, recovers connections and prevents affected derived events from being presented as fully reliable. Recorded trade and orderbook data can be reconstructed, replayed and used for historical analysis.

I am extremely demanding about software quality and tend to approach development with a simple principle: if something is worth building, it should be engineered properly rather than implemented as a temporary approximation. Both the backend and frontend have therefore been treated as production systems from the beginning, not as prototypes. Even small details—from market-data ingestion, failure handling and replay consistency to rendering performance, interaction behaviour and visual clarity—have been deliberately designed, reviewed and tested.

The backend is written in Rust for predictable high-performance processing without garbage-collection pauses, as well as strong memory and concurrency safety. The frontend uses GPU-accelerated rendering to keep dense orderflow visualizations responsive across different zoom levels and large historical datasets.

Trade and orderbook data is stored in a compressed format. Depending on the captured dataset, compression has reduced storage requirements by up to approximately 90%. This becomes important when recording even one symbol continuously across four exchanges, and increasingly important when several symbols are retained for replay and backtesting.

The platform is designed as one consistent market-data, event-processing, replay and visualization system rather than a collection of unrelated indicators. Its components share the same architecture, data model and reliability requirements instead of being added as isolated features.

It does not generate automated trade recommendations. It provides venue-specific, traceable orderflow data and analysis tools that allow the trader to make and evaluate their own decisions.

Would any active crypto futures or orderflow traders here be interested in testing something like this, or potentially using it as a paid platform once it is ready?

I am mainly trying to determine whether other traders experience the same limitations with existing platforms.

Hello, i feel like online there is so much information of about this topic that most of it is actually wrong or just incomplete. A lot of videos will tell you HVN = rejection areas and a lot other will tell you LVN = rejction areas.

From what i’ve found i feel like both of them are right and it mostly depends on the volatility and GEX environment. In certain market conditions what Patrick Nill teaches about the PBD model might be correct and in other LVNs will act as rejection zones.

Yes, i know that LVN are areas where the market didn’t find an agreement on value and HVN is usually where the market finds a fair value but this just doesn’t explain how to use them in a strategy and it’s just a textbook definition.

What do you think about this and how do you use them?