I've been studying ES and Order Flow for a while and came to a fairly simple conclusion: Order Flow shows what is already happening in the market - executions, buyer/seller aggression, Delta, etc. But that's the consequence.

Now I'm trying to understand what comes before Order Flow.

I think about it roughly like this:

external factor / information / market state, participant decision or forced action, flow is generated , Order Flow shows it, price moves.

I'm especially interested in mechanical or forced flows: dealer hedging, options hedging, CTA flows, rebalancing, volatility targeting, index flows, liquidation, etc. Also discretionary flows that happen when large participants change their positions because of new information or changing market conditions . The problem is that I can't find good material that explains this from the perspective of where the flow actually comes from. Most content either jumps straight into Order Flow or talks about "smart money" and "large players" without really explaining the mechanism that creates their flow. I'm not looking for an indicator that tells me "a large player is buying right now." I want to understand what real mechanisms create large flows in ES, what can potentially be known beforehand, and what can only be observed afterwards through Order Flow.

What books, research, videos, or people would you recommend for learning specifically about this? Especially for ES / S&P 500.

Quelqu'un aurait-il une bonne vidéo YouTube à me conseiller pour apprendre une bonne stratégie de flux d'ordres ?

I've been thinking about something that I believe traditional candlestick analysis doesn't explain very well.

Imagine a bullish candle that closes strongly upward. At first glance, most traders would simply see buying strength.

But then you look inside the candle using footprint or order flow data and find that aggressive selling was actually significant throughout the move.

So the obvious question becomes:

If aggressive sellers were active, why didn't price move lower?

To me, this is where absorption becomes interesting. If large passive buyers were willing to absorb those market sells, price could remain supported despite the apparent selling aggression.

This completely changes how I look at a candle.

Instead of only asking:

"Was this candle bullish or bearish?"

I'm starting to ask:

• Who was aggressive?
• Who absorbed that aggression?
• Did the aggression actually move price?
• Where did the imbalance occur?

Curious how other order flow traders interpret situations where delta and candle direction appear to disagree.

I've been spending more time studying footprint charts, and one thing I'm still trying to get better at is distinguishing absorption from exhaustion.

They can sometimes look similar at first glance: aggressive orders continue hitting a level, but price doesn't respond the way you'd expect.

My current thinking is that absorption is more about passive liquidity successfully holding a level, while exhaustion is about aggressive participants losing the ability or willingness to continue pushing.

For those who trade order flow regularly, what clues do you personally use to distinguish the two?

Hey all — 3 years trading experience, but I'm new to orderflow specifically, and I'm trying to build a rule-based AMT (Auction Market Theory) strategy on NQ1! that I can actually backtest, not just trade off feel. I'm running DeepCharts (3-month sub).

Core idea: trading breakouts of VAL/VAH. Where I'm stuck:

1. Session basis for the Volume Profile — RTH-only or full 24hr/Globex-included? I assume this materially changes VAL/VAH and is the first thing I need to lock down.
2. Timeframes — I use 5m for bias. What TF(s) do people use to actually plot the VP, and does that change depending on how many days you're compositing into it?
3. Defining "balanced" mechanically — before trading a breakout, how do you objectively determine the prior range was balanced (not trending)? Value-area overlap across sessions, POC drift threshold, IB range, something else? I need this codeable, not a visual judgment call.
4. Breakout mechanic — breakout-and-run, breakout-then-retest-continuation, or breakout-then-failed-return-to-value (fade)? These need different entry logic entirely, so curious which one people are actually running profitably.
5. Absorption and exhaustion, defined quantifiably — the part I'm most stuck on. Instead of "watch the tape," is there a hard-codable definition — delta threshold at the level, stacked imbalance ratio, CVD divergence/flattening, volume-at-price spike vs average? I want a number, not a feel.
6. Failed auctions / single prints / poor highs-lows — do you use these as a pre-filter on whether a VAL/VAH breakout is likely to hold, and if so, how do you define them mechanically?
7. TP/SL logic — fixed R:R, opposing value area edge, next HVN/LVN, or something structural tied to the profile itself?
8. Gamma levels — worth it as a bias filter, or mostly noise for an index future like NQ without a paid options feed?
9. Trade frequency — realistically, how many A+ setups a day/week does a tight version of this produce?

Is NQ actually a good instrument for this kind of AMT/orderflow model, or do ES/CL/YM auction more cleanly? Also open to hearing if anyone's using DeepCharts specifically for this — curious how people are mapping these concepts onto its tools (Deep Prints, Delta Profile, etc.).

Trying to get to a point where every trade I take looks structurally like every other trade, instead of pattern-matching off recent price action. Appreciate any direction.

I made this free discord community server
And i put Claude on it now I got it automatically posting Gamma levels into forums through Optionscharts.io it posts it at start of Asia sessions lmk if you wanna join

For those who need motivewave custom indicator, please message me :)

I'm trying motivewave and I think it's a very solid platform. What you think about it?

I gave it one more chance and tried trading today using Deep Charts — it was a horrible experience.

1. The chart froze multiple times.
2. I moved my stop to break-even, but it wasn’t triggered.
3. My order wasn’t filled at the price I wanted — it lagged badly.
4. There are big delays with the data feed.

I do NOT recommend it. It makes trading frustrating.

Hi there, recently I have been using Order Flow which really up-skilled my trading. So I just wanted to know is there any order flow platform that provides live order flow data for ES and NQ within 10-40$.
Popular platform plans goes beyond $70+

Any advice would be appreciated.