The first time new traders learn about order flow trading a light seems to come on. I’ve been trading order flow for 20 years now and though the setups and strategies have changed some, the core philosophy hasn’t.
I created this guide for those who are interested in Order Flow Trading but don’t know where to start. You’re about to discover a new way to think and view the market as well as where you should focus your efforts if you want to get serious.
What is Order Flow Trading
Order Flow Trading is a type of trading strategy where trading edges are defined through the analysis of advertised orders and/or executed orders. Order flow traders look to profit by capitalizing on market imbalances.
This my own personal definition for order flow trading. It’s become a “buzz” word online by all of the trading gurus yet nobody seems to understand or define what it truly is.
There’s two different forms of analysis when it comes to order flow trading. On one end of the spectrum we have the analysis of executed orders and on the other end advertised orders.
Executed orders are trades that actually took place between a buyer and a seller where as advertised or resting orders are the advertised bids and offers (resting orders).
We use different tools and indicators to analyze the data which we will look at shortly.
As technology has advanced over the years so has order flow trading. Let’s take a brief look at the history of trading order flow as I think it helps give you a unique perspective as well as some realities about day trading.
Order Flow History
Order Flow Trading really began back early on in the bucket shops and pits of the exchanges.
Pit traders use hand signals and vocal “open outcry” to relay their orders to market makers.
Interesting Fact: The bright colored coats you would see people wearing on the floor would assist in the identification of specific traders or the exchange members for whom they work. The standard red was given to traders (also called locals) and brokers on the floor, but many opted for their own distinct jacket designs worn by their entire group.
I can still remember when I first stepped foot on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade in 1998. I was a junior in high school and the experience for me was absolutely electrifying, and ultimately would set me on a path for my entire professional life.
In order to be a successful trader in the pits you had to be an expert at reading the crowd and the moves of the larger players, all while keeping your cool and managing your emotions in a very chaotic environment.
Pit traders were literally in the heart of the order flow. The pulse of the crowd would drive the decisions of locals to buy or sell.
As technology advanced, more and more volume left the floor of the exchanges and went electronic. The advancement of algorithms were pretty much the final nail in the coffin for floor traders as volume dried up.
A lot of floor traders failed to ever make the move to electronic trading. The good ones had mastered the psychological side of the business, but the game had changed.
Along with the technology came a leap in advancement on analyzing trade data. One of the first major leaps was the introduction of Level II Quotes.
Level II quotes displayed all the bids and offers for each price level from every ECN (electronic communication network). I started my professional trading career in 2003 as a level II trader.
At that time the Level II became the hear of order flow trading similar to the traders in the pits signaling their bids and offers to the market maker. It brought market demand and supply to life.
When I began trading, that was enough of an edge on it own to make a lot of money. However, like all competitive industries, technology lead to rapid advancement.
In 2008 trading algorithms tipped the scales and began accounting for the majority of trading volume. This made it difficult to read a level II as orders were constantly pulled and added to the book. It became very difficult to rely on a level II alone for an edge.
Like the floor traders, I had hit a point were I had to adapt and develop new edges or I would end up like the dinosaurs.
At that point in my career I began to study volume analysis in great depth which has led to where I am today as a trader.
A lesson to to take away is like any competitive industry, advancement is rapid. If you want to make it long term in this business you constantly have to be looking to improve and better define your edges.
Order Flow Trading wouldn’t be complete without a discussion of it’s core philosophy, AMT.
Auction Market Theory
Auction Market Theory is a philosophy that financial markets move higher and lower due to imbalances between buyer and seller aggression (caused by market events) until price discovers a level where aggression is balanced and the most trade can be facilitated (Fair Value).
Auction Market Theory is the heart of order flow trading.
When you begin to incorporate AMT into your core principles and strategies you will begin to feel more empowered as a trader. I believe you become better at reacting to market data and events rather than trying to predict them in the traditional technical sense.
Order Flow Trading Strategies
The ultimate goal of any order flow strategy is to determine if the market is balanced to profit off ranges or imbalanced to profit off trends.
This is done by focusing on data generated either from executed orders or advertised orders. Let’s take a look at some of the tools and order flow indicators used to analyze the separate data types.
Tools/Indicators – Advertised Orders
Level II Or Depth of Market (DOM)
We use a DOM (left) or Level II (right) to analyze areas of high and low liquidity in the book as well as to evaluate the aggression of buyers and sellers. This will often be refereed to as reading the tape.
There’s no shortcut to master reading the tape. It takes experience which as a trader means extensive screen time. Over time you will begin to notice how price moves through different levels of liquidity.
Every different instrument you trade will have different characteristics depending on overall liquidity, the players involved, and the overall characteristics of the instrument. For example, a high flying meme stock or volatile Tesla (TSLA) will trade a lot differently on a level II than a stock like Amazon (AMZN) or Microsoft (MSFT).
Time & Sales
Time & sales indicator lists every trade by it’s transaction time, volume, and price.
It’s used to spot large orders and gauge the speed and flow of the market.
Similar to a Level II it will take experience to learn how to read time & sales and every instrument will have it’s own unique characterisitics.
Liquidity Charts
Liquidity charts display bid and ask orders in a visual manner. The chart seen above is Bookmap’s software, which specializes in liquidity charts. The goal of these charts is to help you interpret areas of high liquidity (resistance) and low liquidity where price could rip through.
We will discuss a number of platforms that haves similar features shortly.
Tools/Indicators – Executed Orders
Volume and Volume Profiles
Volume and volume profiles are the backbone areas of focus for all of my strategies. I interpret volume data and profiles to determine if a market is balanced or imbalanced, the strength of trends, determine reversal points, and much more.
If you’re new to order flow this is where I would focus your efforts to start.
Market Profiles
“The Market Profile is a unique charting tool that enables traders to observe the two-way auction process that drives all market movement—the ebb and flow of price over time — in a way that reveals patterns in herd behavior.” ~ James Dalton
I couldn’t give a better description than the famous author on market profiles James Dalton. Market profiles deserve their own guide, which I will publish soon.
Below I mention a few books of his you should checkout.
Delta
Volume Delta measure the difference between buying and selling power. It’s calculated by taking the difference of the volume that traded at the offer price and the volume that traded at the bid price.
Cumulative volume delta simply plots the delta values for each candle on a graph.
Delta allows you to gauge the strength of a move by analyzing the aggression of buyers and sellers by their use of market orders.
Delta plays a large roll in my scalping but I believe it can be beneficial to longer term traders as well.
Next, let’s take a look at some of your charting options if you’re interested in order flow.
Order Flow Charting Software
Here’s a list of the most popular order flow charting platforms.
MotiveWave.com – The software I currently use.
SierraCharts.com – I used Sierra for almost a decade. Super fast and robust as long as you don’t mind the dated GUI.
NinjaTrader.com – Widely used by traders look to do automation.
QuantTower.com – Personally not familiar with them but I’ve read good things.
Bookmap.com – Bookmap specializes more on advertised prices and liquidity based on that data. Check out there platform and you will see what I mean.
Order Flow Education
The following guides and posts area good primer to get you started.
- Great guide to volume profile analysis: https://www.jumpstarttrading.com/volume-profile/
- List of order flow indicators and their uses: https://www.jumpstarttrading.com/order-flow-indicators/
- Delta is a key indicator which instantly let’s you see buyer and seller aggression via executed market orders: https://www.jumpstarttrading.com/volume-delta/
- The majority of the charts I personally use are footprint charts, check out this guide: https://www.jumpstarttrading.com/footprint-chart/
- Order Flow Software Reviews: https://www.jumpstarttrading.com/best-order-flow-trading-software/
When you’re ready to take your education to the next level we offer a very comprehensive order flow trading course.
Order Flow Trading Books
James Dalton and Peter Steidlmayer are considered the best authors when it comes to market profile and volume techniques. The books listed below are classics that should added to your reading list.
Conclusion
It’s my belief that order flow trading teaches you a reactionary style to the markets rather than predictive. It helps you build confidence as a trader seldom leaving you wondering.
The tools and topics covered here will take time. Experience is truly the only way to master any subject and the only way you do that with trading is screen time. You have a lot to learn, so get going!
If you have any questions make sure to leave a comment below!
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Adam
20 Year Professional Trader
Founder of JumpstartTrading.com
FULL BIO >
Thanks for the great post Adam! What platform is that Depth of Market image from?
Thanks Mike! It’s Sierra Charts.
Thanks Adam.. Good stuff as usual.
Thanks Stewart! Greatly appreciated.
Hi. Can I ask why you switched from Sierra charts to Motive wave?
Thanks
Hi Owen, thanks for the comment. I used Sierra for years, it’s a great platform.
Some members were using MotiveWave and for a long time I wanted something native to Mac. For years I ran Parallels and was tired of it so I decided to make the switch after several months of testing MotiveWave.
If I was a windows users I’m guessing I’d still be on Sierra. It’s super fast (lightweight) and very few bugs. Its downfall is the GUI is dated and if you’re a new user there support isn’t that great. However, it really doesn’t need to be because the platform is so well documented between their forum and youtube.
Honestly I wouldn’t say one is better than the other. They both have their strengths and weaknesses.
Thanks Adam. I’m a windows user so I’ll give sierra’s trial a whirl and see how I get on.
Any time. Everything is really well documented if you can’t figure something out just do a google search.
Thanks for material Adam!
I’m a windows user and beginner in trading. Should I use Bookmap?
Hi Tania, thanks for the comment! It really depends on your style of trading. Bookmap is really geared towards visualizing resting orders in the book (advertised orders). I’d checkout out MotiveWave and Sierra Charts as well.
In the conclusion, you said that the order flow trading teaches the reactionary style to the markets rather than predictive. Still, people are using it to predict where the market is moving. Based on your experience, which book talks about this portion of the order flow?
Hi Ravi, thanks for the comment. It’s not something that comes from a book, just my personal opinion.
I feel most retail traders are trying to predict where price will go as they don’t have any logic built into their strategies. They may recognize a pattern or see something on an indicator, but they don’t have any theory or logic behind why those series of events should make price go to X. It’s just simple pattern recognition.
As an order flow trader, I’m constantly analyzing analyzing buyer and seller aggression in real time. I’m not waiting for some pattern or indicator to do something. I feel the order flow analysis I employ, including the theory and logic behind it, puts me in more of a reactionary position than the typical trader.