My Tape Reading Software & Techniques

[Predictor 11]

First, let me start of by thanking the admins here who have recognized the value of my contributions, and what I have to offer as a trader and a vendor, and have expressed an interest in my sharing more here. Over the past year, I've been both developing and trading with specialized software that I designed for reading the tape, order flow, and order book imbalances.

 

We are now nearing completion of the software and have developed it to a commercially ready state. We are running some last minute tests and plan to have it available for subscription in the next 1-2 weeks. The pricing isn't finalized but it will be available for a monthly subscription fee (likely around $120-$160/month). The first version will be fed by the Ninjatrader platform and we are authorized Multicharts developers, as well. We plan to have a MultiCharts version ready in about 6-8 weeks. There is no way to purchase the software yet but if you sign up under the "Contact Us" tab on our website then you'll be added to our maillist and will get first notice.

 

In this thread, in my first posts I plan to start by explaining how the software works and what it offers because it works differently then most other software. In later posts, I plan to share more of my own trades, calls, and trade setups in more detail.

 

 

-

Curtis

http://orderflowdashpro.com

[Predictor 11]

For those who don't watch videos, I thought I'd share a couple screen shots of my software:

 

 

A breakdown of what you see:

 

1. Volume Histogram -> can be built to specs

2. Orderflow Bars -> Shows the volume and intensity of buying selling inside time/range/volume bars.

3. Visual Depth -> Renders depth as histogram. We highlight the markers which tracks the MODE of the bid and ask. I focus primarily on the yellow markers as they often lead the order flow.

4. OrderFlow Monitor -> This is my trademark PressureVolume display. I show the difference in the trades hitting the bid or ask for the dominate side only. On the other side, I print a dash. This allows me to see directional order flow. I've found as a tape reader that its not just imbalance in buying/selling but concentrated (one sided) trading over short burst is what drives the market. We highlight the bid/ask and color whichever is getting more orders yellow.

5. LimitResistance -> We track the resting limit orders and compute the imbalance. We can do this in a number of ways, i.e just add up all buys-sells or add up only some levels. We can also do mode-mode. I track the first few inside levels. Most orderflow reversals start with imbalances in the book. This column is easy to track because I'm just watching for a flashing light pink or light blue. This is a leading indicator of the order flow... Now just because this pattern precedes most orderflow reversals doesn't mean that most imbalances lead to orderflow reversals.

[TheNegotiator 13]

First, let me start of by thanking the admins here who have recognized the value of my contributions, and what I have to offer as a trader and a vendor, and have expressed an interest in my sharing more here. Over the past year, I've been both developing and trading with specialized software that I designed for reading the tape, order flow, and order book imbalances.

 

We are now nearing completion of the software and have developed it to a commercially ready state. We are running some last minute tests and plan to have it available for subscription in the next 1-2 weeks. The pricing isn't finalized but it will be available for a monthly subscription fee (likely around $120-$160/month). The first version will be fed by the Ninjatrader platform and we are authorized Multicharts developers, as well. We plan to have a MultiCharts version ready in about 6-8 weeks. There is no way to purchase the software yet but if you sign up under the "Contact Us" tab on our website then you'll be added to our maillist and will get first notice.

 

In this thread, in my first posts I plan to start by explaining how the software works and what it offers because it works differently then most other software. In later posts, I plan to share more of my own trades, calls, and trade setups in more detail.

 

Looks quite good. Firstly, how resource hungry is it? If you are trading based on order flow you want a responsive execution platform. Two, it seems a little pricey to me considering you can get an iqfeed/sierra combo and run it as a standalone solution for a similar price to what you've quoted above (and much less if you are trading cme products and have the data waiver). Any thoughts?

[Predictor 11]

Neg,

Thanks for the compliments. We took extreme measures to make it as responsive as possible. As a tape reader, I recognize the importance and have been testing and trading with it live for a long time now. We have achieved 100x Playback speeds without lag because we can control the data transfer fidelity, data processing, and graphics rendering independently. The program doesn't use a lot of memory because we only use the memory that is required - probably less then 20MB. Given that we can "throttle" everything independently then the program should run responsively over a fairly broad spectrum of hardware. Even so I would recommend an I7 generation or equivalent processor for best performance.

 

Let me clarify, also, the program does not allow the placing of any trades. You would use NinjaTrader SuperDOM or you could use any broker supplied DOM for that. One of the main reasons we use NinjaTrader for the datafeed is that it gives the trader the ability to use any NinjaTrader supported datafeed such as Kinetic or IQFEED. I believe Kinetic, some say it is rebranded IQFEED, is about the cheapest professional feed available and it is only available for NinjaTrader. Of course, you could still use CME fee waivers if you have them. Also, the NinjaTrader platform is free, as well if you don't place trades through it. Likewise, when we bring out the MultiCharts edition then you will be able to use any MultiCharts feed including broker feeds.

 

As for other platforms, there is no other software out there that does everything that I want. I researched all other software possible and only committed to building my own when I was satisfied the alternatives were inadequate. There is no other software out there showing order book imbalances or that uses my PressureVolume dash-price rendering style. Another important factor for me is that my software is designed to spin up and start processing live data -- no matter if the historical data is available or not. I find this ability to start analyzing the real-time data without a lot of setup very critical for me. We don't have a database so we don't have the types of problems that come with that nor does our software encourage the temptations that full-featured charting programs might. NinjaTrader feeds us the historical data and seems solid in that regard.

 

As for the pricing, I think that using a "counting up features" approach would be misguided because I have a lot of trading software that does a lot more but doesn't do what I want for tape reading. The other side to the pricing is that I personally don't feel there are a lot of futures traders out there and thus not sure it would be worth the effort to offer it for much less. But, I believe there are at at least a small group of professionals and aspirational traders who will see the value and demand it. While the professionals would pay more, I believe it is affordable for those who aren't quite professional yet. It will cost less then many cell phone plans and internet plans.

 

It also works with currency futures and should work with Forex. There might be a larger market in Forex (either trading the Forex from the futures or directly), and we might offer a specialized product for that market in the future. I'd like to try it with Forex but been too busy...

 

Looks quite good. Firstly, how resource hungry is it? If you are trading based on order flow you want a responsive execution platform. Two, it seems a little pricey to me considering you can get an iqfeed/sierra combo and run it as a standalone solution for a similar price to what you've quoted above (and much less if you are trading cme products and have the data waiver). Any thoughts?

Edited November 27, 2012 by Predictor

[PrymeTyme 10]

HI Predictor

 

 

i like Reading the Tape /DOM and everything involved in it..

 

so i like your tool and video.. will study it more accurate later..

 

 

but for now i got some questions...

 

 

you say u generate the orderflow columns by taking the buyers and substract the sellers , right ? ( 05:30min )

 

at the 06:15 min mark we can see that 1 contract hits the offer@81.00 and the orderflowcolumn increase by 1 contract from 1900 to 1901 ..

 

isnt that a lil contradicting from what u said on 05:30min ? .. or am i getting something wrong here ?

 

as we hit the offer it was a market buy..but the value increases in that orderflow column..

shouldnt it decrease ? as we have a red column ie. more selling (hitting the bid) was going on... so if we hit the offer on that level.. the value should decrease ?

 

or does that number(1900) comes from adding all traded contracts on that level together

lets say 1000 contracts hit the bid and 900 the offer ,, therefore the column is red as we had more selling going on ? and the 1 contract wich hits the offer makes it 901 offers hit ?

but the selling was still bigger... namely 1000 to 901

 

 

sorry for my english.. and it may be the case that i didnt quite understood the mecanics behind your tool...

 

ty

cheers

[Predictor 11]

PrymeTyme

 

I'll try to clear up any confusion. There could yet be bugs but this is probably just a misunderstanding. I will be running final testing later this week and will look closely for any wrong calculations.

 

For the OrderFlow Bars we can display the orderflow in a few ways: total volume, difference volume (buys-sells), and bid vs ask (bids vs ask). We can shade the bars based on difference volume (or intensity of buying/selling) or based on total volume. I'm running the OrderFlow Bars in total volume with shading based on intensity of buying selling and running Accumulator column as bid vs ask. In my own trading, I track closely where high volume occurs regardless if it is selling or buying.

 

I call the far right columns the Orderflow Monitor which accumulates the orders hitting the bid/ask but at any time we tick up or down then I overwrite the previous value --but I don't clear cells. We can render this in 3 ways: just accumulate, accumulate and show the pressure in the parenthesis, and finally PressureVolume -- just show the pressure.

 

Hope that helps.

Edited November 27, 2012 by Predictor

[zdo 20]

Predictor,

What if you reset BidVsAsk column at a not so optimal/‘wrong’ time or price?

Can you go back where it was previous to reset? ie Revert to pre reset?

thx,

zdo

[Predictor 11]

ZDO,

 

Not currently.. in the future we might add multiple accumulators though. We already have the ability to display the same accumulator in multiple forms. You can always clear it again though.

 

Predictor,

What if you reset BidVsAsk column at a not so optimal/‘wrong’ time or price?

Can you go back where it was previous to reset? ie Revert to pre reset?

thx,

zdo

[Predictor 11]

My approach to order flow is what I call "theory free" in that I'm looking for patterns but I don't hold conviction as to how things should work.

 

Many beginning tape readers think it is all about the market orders but over time I've been able to read (pick up) where the larger limit order traders will sit off market. What tends to happen is that when these limit order drivers are identified, momentum traders will drive price away from them (front run). But, the limit traders tend to be the biggest traders and so the price will usually go back to them (revert to value). This is, also, how they (the big boys) manipulate the market -- by pulling the bids or offers. This is a low risk way to manipulate the market. Whether these are emergent behaviors of a large number of participants or the result of a few large market participants is not really important, what is important is to learn to identify where the limit price drivers are sitting off market.

 

One pattern that occurs quite often is after an extended move up or down, a selling or buying extreme will occur and will be unable to move price. The implication is clear: a constantly replenishing limit order bid/offer. This phenomena often leads to high volume areas where the price is prone to reverse. At any rate, with so many wrong sided market order traders, all that is required is to push the price a few ticks to trigger the stop run.

 

Another similar pattern that occurs is an extremely rapid buying or selling "wrong sided" at these times. This is not human buying. In some cases it is likely stop runs. But, in other cases such activity is more difficult to make sense of. I suspect it may be manipulative bots (or high frequency equities bots) running into large speculators who sit using limit orders. Perhaps, these bots are attempting to trigger a stop run or move the market a few ticks or simply attempting an arbitrage. Perhaps, they identified liquidity and are reacting to it with more liquidity. Regardless, if they are unable to drive the price then that's a good sign the market will reverse.

 

One of the experimental measures we have in the program is what we call SynchronousVolume. With this measure, we measure how one or two sided the order flow is.. what we've found is that when the "one sidedness" of the order flow passes a threshold that the price almost always follows through whereas when the order flow is two-sided then we have reversion. This one-sidedness appears to be the best indicator of what will drive price -- not just imbalance. In one respect, this measure is a "modern day" equivalent of being able to measure large size trades -- which are split up now.

 

For order execution, if I feel a reversal is imminent then one technique that I use often is to shoot in a market order when the imbalance in the book has reached an extreme (light pink/blue) and the order flow has reversed to become dominant on the other side. It is quite often possible with this technique for the trade to become profitable without ever taking any heat. This works well in volatile times/markets.

Edited November 27, 2012 by Predictor

[Predictor 11]

While, we've pretty much frozen new features at this stage, I was able to sneak in a new feature last night. This new style shades the Volume Accumulator/Inventory Tracking with the average intensity of the selling or buying based on all values in the accumulator.

 

In other words, we add up all the differences for each cell and divide by the total. This shows us whether there was overall more buying or selling since we started tracking. This is also analogous to a "Power Bar". I believe this style will prove very useful. The entire column changes color as the net selling and buying changes.

 

[Predictor 11]

I've also added the PressureVolume style to our OrderFlow Bars. It is not exactly same because we are looking at the difference in buying/selling that occurs on different price levels in the monitor whereas in the bars we are taking the difference of all the volume that occurs on that price level.

 

The style is similar to bid vs ask except we only show the difference in parenthesis for the positive side. I like this style because all the numbers are now positive.

 

 

[Predictor 11]

I will share how I view the futures market participants. I do not break it down between retail vs institutional but rather view all traders (of size) as professionals.

 

Large Speculators: The large speculator tends to sit outside the market and have a defined zone where they will exhaust market order traders. These speculators can hold large size and so often determine trend.

 

Primary Liquidity Providers: These are traders who provide liquidity via limit orders. It is my feeling that these limit orders are mostly straight up, i.e not being pulled. There are obviously any number of strategies these traders could use but suspect they use semi-martingale with perhaps options. This participant may also be able to throw around some large size but must clear quickly.

 

Secondary Liquidity Providers: Large institutions who can cause significant price change when they pull their limit orders.

 

Day Traders/Equities Bots/HFT Bots: These are firms that have significant buying power but must clear by EOD. Much of the price action is a result of the margin buying power of these bots/traders. This group also includes day traders who buy at market and drive price.

 

Institutions/Systematic Traders/Funds/Etc: When actively buying/selling can cause significant trend.... often can be identified as a "limit order" price driver.

 

---

 

Much of dynamics in market are caused by participants (of size) who move slowly versus participants of speed who move faster and are able to front-run the former. This front-running creates instability in price because participants of size tend to control market using limit orders over certain time frames while participants of speed control the market over other time frames. The differences in buying power due to margin controls is a significant factor in this.

 

In general trading is about determining the kind of randomness present in the current market and finding good low risk entries. I find orderflow is help in that.

[Predictor 11]

We're also adding the ability to highlight the high volume nodes for the bars. I track the HV nodes in my work closely and find them very useful.

 

Low Contrast Colors with HV Nodes Bolded

 

Edited November 29, 2012 by Predictor

[Predictor 11]

More On How I Use My Software/Trading..

 

I spend most of time focused on the real-time activity in the OrderFlow monitor. I don't perform any historical analysis of the OrderFlow Bars. I primarily watch various custom spread relationships and perform intermarket analysis on higher time frames. I have models that can usually provide a reasonable estimate of the highs and lows for the day. Sometimes I will check these models before trading which gives me a good idea where reversals may happen. At other times, I have systematic strategies that trigger and will give me some inclination of which side I want to trade on.

[Predictor 11]

In this post, I share what I've found are the best times to execute my orders using the orderflow and orderbook information that I've now available.

 

Executing on OrderBook Imbalance + OrderFlow Reversal

 

I've found the best time for executing orders is after price has moved to a relative extreme (range extension) and the book and order flow are both working together. I like to execute my market orders when the yellow mode is showing that I'm trading with the dominant pressure and again preferably when the order book is supporting me. These entries will almost always provide me with an opportunity of Favorable Excursion.

 

Executing After OrderBook Imbalance Is Taken Out

 

The next time I will execute is when the order flow is able to push through an area of resistance in the order book. When these resistance areas are taken out, the price will often jump about 1 to 1.5 points. Often, it will go on to run several points but not usually without a retrace. I suspect the jump is because there are stop orders that are run on the other side of these resistance nodes. This entry technique is higher risk and only suitable to some market conditions. Generally, if this technique fails then my trade will immediately go into the "red" and my pricing will be bad which often necessitates taking a loss.

 

Executing After Dominant OrderFlow Established At Price Extremes

 

Another entry that works very well is to wait until there is a clearly dominant order flow present. For example, if we've established that the order flow has turned strongly negative then this often a great entry. One way to execute these entries is to wait for a low volume/weak retracement and to offer using a limit order. This helps to avoid getting "trapped" with late market order traders but can be hard to pull off. The second way to execute is to watch for an extreme selling/buying to build on a level and for the price to extend. While it can be tempting to front run such selling, it is best to wait for a price reaction because the pattern is almost identical to a large limit order trader replenishing the bid/offer. We need to make sure that limit order trader is taken out.

[Swishy27 10]

@Predictor, This reminds me of Jigsaw Trading's DOM except with a great deal more customization and features. Definitely looks like a great tool to add to Ninjatrader..

 

Do you have any videos demonstrating your use of the software as explained below? I see that you have already posted a video to youtube going over some of the features offered. Will you be posting any further videos to the youtube channel or your website in the near future?

 

Also, will you be offering a trial period for the software to customers when the product is made available?

 

Thank You

 

In this post, I share what I've found are the best times to execute my orders using the orderflow and orderbook information that I've now available.

 

Executing on OrderBook Imbalance + OrderFlow Reversal

 

I've found the best time for executing orders is after price has moved to a relative extreme (range extension) and the book and order flow are both working together. I like to execute my market orders when the yellow mode is showing that I'm trading with the dominant pressure and again preferably when the order book is supporting me. These entries will almost always provide me with an opportunity of Favorable Excursion.

 

Executing After OrderBook Imbalance Is Taken Out

 

The next time I will execute is when the order flow is able to push through an area of resistance in the order book. When these resistance areas are taken out, the price will often jump about 1 to 1.5 points. Often, it will go on to run several points but not usually without a retrace. I suspect the jump is because there are stop orders that are run on the other side of these resistance nodes. This entry technique is higher risk and only suitable to some market conditions. Generally, if this technique fails then my trade will immediately go into the "red" and my pricing will be bad which often necessitates taking a loss.

 

Executing After Dominant OrderFlow Established At Price Extremes

 

Another entry that works very well is to wait until there is a clearly dominant order flow present. For example, if we've established that the order flow has turned strongly negative then this often a great entry. One way to execute these entries is to wait for a low volume/weak retracement and to offer using a limit order. This helps to avoid getting "trapped" with late market order traders but can be hard to pull off. The second way to execute is to watch for an extreme selling/buying to build on a level and for the price to extend. While it can be tempting to front run such selling, it is best to wait for a price reaction because the pattern is almost identical to a large limit order trader replenishing the bid/offer. We need to make sure that limit order trader is taken out.

[Predictor 11]

Swishy, thank you. I appreciate that you see the value.

 

Absolutely, we will be producing more videos. I will be sharing these both as promotional/educational and as part of my own training with the software. Yesterday was a great example where order book imbalances marked every major swing low to the tick. It is very evident that various algorithms are trading based on these imbalances. I plan to make a video to show this and for my own trade review purposes, probably this weekend.

 

Our software can be a benefit to most traders -- employing a wide and diverse range of trading styles. I've had the idea for a systematic trading method that I feel could work well with our software, and I may share this systematic trading methodology in the future, as well.

 

As for free trials, my plan is to make the software affordable enough so that anyone who wants to pay a modest monthly fee can try it out. I'm not asking hundreds (or even thousands -- like some trading software sells for) but a monthly fee that will be lower then I pay for internet (and lower then I previously payed for my cell phone). I'm aware of various trading rooms and so forth that offer trading software and they typically charge over 2x what I'll be asking -- for often bland repackaged generic software.

 

Obviously, a monthly subscription model can only work if the traders who try it out see the value and keep the subscription. Having stated all this, that's not to say that we'll never offer a free trial. But, my goal is to offer it on a low risk subscription basis and not to spread our resources thin by trying to support a large non paying base.

Edited December 1, 2012 by Predictor

[Predictor 11]

I was going to post the data from Friday. Unfortunately, the NinjaTrader replay data had some hiccups with the L2 data and it was causing some problems with our program. The NinjaTrader support has been extremely helpful with every issue we've had. So, what we've did is to add a "fix" which makes our program more resilient when running on replay data. So, I'll try to go back and make that recording now. I've also received update from my programmer/quantitative developer that progress is being made with MultiCharts.

 

As I see it, there are really 2 kinds of trading: turn-based and real-time -- just like with video games. As a trader who has had good results using both styles of trading: I believe that many traders don't understand that specialized techniques are required to be successful with real-time trading. Of course, even real-time trading requires some degree of anticipation. It took me about a year before I finally "got" real-time trading even though prior I was very good at turn-based trading. I had to develop new specialized skills.

 

For me, I always felt somewhat divided when I would watch a chart and then go to place an order. It was like "2 minds" and there wasn't a flow. However, when I embraced tape reading then it felt more natural like there was only one mind. I do use charts but I use them in highly specialized ways or just for basic reference. As a tape reader, I know or should know where the price is -- I don't need to look at a chart of my market to tell me. I feel this "flow" is one of the greatest benefits for the tape reader.

 

As a tape reader, I see the market differently from chart traders. I know a few major references but I'm perceiving the market significantly differently then the chart trader. Sometimes I'll run a chart up but I don't study it.. I just use it for basic reference. I can see in the orderflow and book whether a level is attracting buying or selling.

 

My principle is everything that I use has to prove itself. I rely on my tape read which I trust and then I have various systems that have proven themselves. I mean if you look at most indicators. They're just based on price or the indicators are hard to read. I know I couldn't read most chart indicators in real-time anyway! This is why I put a lot of thought and effort into making our program make it easier for traders to process data in real-time.

 

You know when I look at a method that traders claim is predictive or whatever. The first thing I will do is look at a chart: if it doesn't pretty much scream buy/sell at the tops or bottoms then I'm not interested.

 

Having said all that, some of my programmed systems are more advanced but at the end of the day they deliver me a crisp and clear buy or sell signal.

Edited December 6, 2012 by Predictor

[Predictor 11]

I trade often using discretion using a style I call "point to point" which means I'll trade from any point to any point in the market without regard to where I'm at in the distribution. Some might like to think of this as "center out" trading in volume profile terms. I like to read the order flow in the first few moments of the day actually and can trades within minutes of the open. I've found that often systematic strategies are often easier for traders to implement.

 

It is possible to get a "rough" idea where the high and the low in the futures indexes will occur up to a day in advance. The typical floor trading pivots aren't at all accurate. But, it is possible to generate some reasonably accurate projections using machine learning techniques. I have developed such projections that are an order of magnitude more accurate then typical floor trading pivots. The market is prone to reverse near these projections especially on a "first touch" basis -- when there are more limit orders resting.

 

Thus, one reasonable strategy is to use such projections or create a band near the extremes of the market where one anticipates it to reverse and to watch for both order book and order flow reversals within this "band" in order to take counter trend trades.

 

This is one strategy that I'm going to be experimenting with personally and will also be researching with quantitative partner/developer. If we can develop it into something that is consistent and profitable enough I may develop it into a fully programmed strategy.

 

I will be sharing these projected high/low levels in the ES thread for the next several days. We currently do not offer these and the first version of our software won't support them. But, I can the value in having them transmitted directly into the software and its something we'll be considering...

Edited December 7, 2012 by Predictor

[Predictor 11]

As requested, I've made a new video. In this video, I share a systematic strategy for trading using the order flow, and 2 techniques for trading the reactions to reports. I also walk through how I setup my trading for Friday. I also show order book imbalances and how those imbalances often lead to changes in the order flow.

 

 

In several cases, I say "order book imbalance" when I'm really referring to the "mode". The book imbalance can only be seen in the far right column or LimitResistance. We might should rename this column to LimitImbalance because LimitResistance is more a phenomena that we see with market orders being exhausted.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Predictor

[Predictor 11]

We've now added net statistics. We print this information inline which makes it easier to track. I've received a very good response and interest from people wanting to try my software, and we're working hard to make that happen.

 

[Colonel B 10]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! I came over here because I saw your posts in another thread and I see this. This looks like a very poor rip off of MARKET DELTA. Here is the link in case you don't know. Home . You even use the same words that Trevor uses when he is trying to sell MARKET DELTA. So really what does your ripped off piece of software do that is different or better then what MARKET DELTA does already?

 

Actually in fact you can send people to this websight to help them understand how to use and read your software better. FootprintChart.com

 

LOL

 

Well now that part is out of the way I can get on to the other points. This way you are looking at the market is by far the best way of looking at a market. I wish we had more people using the FOOTPRINT so we could have more discussions on markets. I am just going to come out and call it the footprint instead of Team Alpha Super Awesome Cool Dynamite Wolf Squadron or whatever you are calling it. But seriously this will allow you to see traders getting trapped and get you out of bad trades with only 2-4 tick stop outs. That is way better then the whole retail market has to offer and you can do it with an addon in Ninja. I don't know if you are a genius or crazy or maybe both. Who knows if you sell it and I dont have to pay a monthly subscription and it does what Market Delta does then maybe you will see my name on the sign up sheet.

[Predictor 11]

CB, I'm glad you're interested in our product because it really is a unique product. First, I understand the appeal of a heavily marketed product but I hope my explanation will explain why my software truly is better for the purposes it was designed for. I think most traders are already aware of first generation software like MarketDelta. The ability to plot volume inside bars exist in other platforms too. Again, I have seen what others offered, and what they offered didn't meet my requirements -- not even close.

 

Here are some of the advantages and key distinctions in what our software does compared to others:

 

* AlphaReveal, is not a charting application and as such doesn't involve the headaches of charting programs. I need to be able to get into the market quickly and get a read on it quickly. Our software is designed to "spin up" and be ready for real-time analysis on a moment notice. As fast as you can spin up a DOM, you can spin up our software. That's key for me. Really key.

 

* AlphaReveal is the only software that I know of that plots the depth visually and, also, tracks order book imbalances. MarketDelta, to my knowledge, only tracks market orders and doesn't show the depth in a visual way. Price dynamics are the result of the interaction between the market and limit orders. The market orders are only a part of the picture. The clarity that AlphaReveal provides into both limit and market order imbalance is unmatched.

 

* It is not just an imbalance in buying/selling that leads to price movement but rather unidirectional order flow over a condensed time/space. Most methods that involve accumulating order flow over time can't show this critical unidirectional order flow. AlphaReveal's OrderFlow Monitor is a powerful tape reading tool. Our PressureVolume display is the easiest way to read the tape ever developed. Likewise, we highlight whether the bid or ask price is receiving more order flow "right now" which allows us to make better informed decisions about when and how to use market orders especially when combined with the ability to see order book imbalances and the depth visually. These advantages can't even be copied into a charting program because the paradigm is so different.

 

* AlphaReveal also has an clearable volume inventory tracking/accumulator. This tracker allows the trader to take an interactive Pulse of the market and the order flow from key areas. This is incredibly valuable because as I've stated it is not just imbalance but directional order flow that leads to price movement. The ability to interactively pulse the market provides for a completely difference and unique experience to analysis over chart based trading.

 

* AlphaReveal's OrderFlow Bars can be used to track volume and trade imbalances on time/range/and volume periodicity and can be used for recent historical analysis of the order flow. While other order flow software may be able to plot volume inside a bar, they can't benefit from the powerful synergistic advantages of tracking order book imbalances, depth, and directional volume that AlphaReveal has.

 

* AlphaReveal has many features for reducing information overload I personally find that looking at some of those charts a case of too much information for my taste. I've never felt that way using AlphaReveal because I can adjust it to give me just the information that I need.

----

 

For those who are curious and wanting quality information, let me explain that AlphaReveal is much different then this other program. It is NOT a charting program. If you are looking at our software as a charting platform then you will be disappointed.

 

AlphaReveal is a specialized software designed to give the trader total illumination into the market. It is a especially developed to enable the trader to read the market in real-time. It is the easiest and most powerful form of tape reading I've ever seen. Incredible thought and effort has been spent to help enable traders.

 

Our software is especially designed for reading the market "free form" without chart analysis, historical analysis, or even a need for explicit rules.

 

Let me repeat, our software can enable the trader to read and get a sense of the order flow in real-time without the need to look for explicit/historical analysis or do "chart mining". Yet, AlphaReveal supports multiple paradigms for processing the order flow and both a bar based approach and recent historical analysis of recent order flow is fully supported with the OrderFlow Bars. We feel the synthesis of having both methods running side by side is extremely powerful. If you're looking for program designed to enable you to "execute" at your best then that is really what our software is about.

 

I hope I've helped to explain how our software is different and unique. I know most beginners will be attracted to the fancy charting program. We feel when they actually start placing trades they'll see the benefit in our approach.

Edited December 12, 2012 by Predictor

[Swishy27 10]

Predictor,

 

I would like to submit a suggestion. Would you be able to add an option to show the cumulative bid and ask totals at the top and bottom of the bid ask ladder along with a ratio listing the cumulative ask divided by cumulative bid and vice versa at the top and bottom of the bid ask column as highlighted in purple on the attached example. This idea comes from the jtrealstats indicator in ninja. I find that it helps to quickly visualize the overall supply and demand in the order book.

[Predictor 11]

Swishy great suggestions. This was actually present in an early prototype but didn't make it into the production (yet). One of the reasons is that we actually have a signal column planned which for example will be able to issue a plain text alert when certain events happen that may be relevant.. such as many bids pulled simultaneously. We have studied total ratios and we seen some potential but primarily only at extremes.

 

The right column can be used to calculate the difference in the total resting limit orders which is similar to what you suggest. What we actually do though is just calculate the inside levels.. It stands to reasons that orders close to the market may show a different sentiment then ones further away.

 

One of our goals was to reduce the information burden on the trader.. with the far right col.. we can highlight extremes and it makes them easy to detect.

 

I've been trading with the software for sometime now and so I'm constantly evaluating how to make it better. To be honest, the inventory tracker could be used to read sentiment but had limited use for inventory tracking before we added the summaries. Now with tracking the differences I'm able to track better how traders are opening and closing out inventory..

 

Please keep suggestions coming. Most probably won't make it in first release but we'll consider everything.

 

Predictor,

 

I would like to submit a suggestion. Would you be able to add an option to show the cumulative bid and ask totals at the top and bottom of the bid ask ladder along with a ratio listing the cumulative ask divided by cumulative bid and vice versa at the top and bottom of the bid ask column as highlighted in purple on the attached example. This idea comes from the jtrealstats indicator in ninja. I find that it helps to quickly visualize the overall supply and demand in the order book.