Order Flow

The stream of buy and sell orders entering the market, analyzed to understand who is trading, in what size, and at what level of aggression. Order flow analysis goes beyond simple price and volume charts to examine whether trades are hitting the bid (aggressive selling) or lifting the offer (aggressive buying). Proprietary trading firms and institutional desks consider order flow data one of their most valuable informational edges, and tools like footprint charts and cumulative delta help retail traders access similar insights.