order flow
What Is It?
The Order Flow pillar measures the net buying or selling pressure on an asset using Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD). For each bar, it estimates how much volume was driven by buyers vs. sellers — then aggregates this over time to reveal the dominant force in the market.
It appears as green bars (buying pressure) and red bars (selling pressure) centered at the 50 midline on the oscillator panel.
UI name: "Enable Order Flow" in the settings panel. The bars are labelled "Order Flow" in the Style tab (Color 0 = bullish green, Color 1 = bearish red).
How Order Flow Is Calculated
For each bar, the indicator estimates buy/sell volume using the High-Low-Close relationship:
Buy fraction = (Close − Low) / (High − Low)
Sell fraction = (High − Close) / (High − Low)
Delta = Volume × (Buy fraction − Sell fraction)
This delta is summed over a 21-bar rolling window to get the raw Order Flow value.
Z-Score Normalization
The raw value is normalized using a 300-bar rolling z-score:
Order Flow Z = (Raw Value − Mean) / Std DevThis ensures the Order Flow reading is comparable across assets and timeframes, regardless of absolute volume levels. The z-score is then scaled and soft-clamped at ±60 to prevent outliers from dominating the display.
The final value is shifted to center at 50, so:
Above 50 = net buying pressure
Below 50 = net selling pressure
Multi-Exchange Volume
By default, Order Flow aggregates volume from three spot markets simultaneously:
Binance
BINANCE:BTCUSDT
Coinbase
COINBASE:BTCUSD
Kraken
KRAKEN:BTCUSD
This gives a much more representative picture of true market activity than a single exchange's volume alone.
These symbols are hardcoded for BTC. If you are using this indicator on an altcoin or non-BTC asset, the Order Flow bars will reflect BTC volume data. This is intentional for macro market structure context — BTC volume often correlates with broader crypto market direction — but be aware of this when analyzing alt signals. Consider disabling Order Flow if you find it misleading for your specific asset.
Role in Signal Generation
Long Gate (Order Flow approves a long)
Order Flow approves a long signal when:
The Order Flow value has been rising over the last 5 bars (buying pressure is building)
Short Gate (Order Flow approves a short)
Order Flow approves a short signal when:
The Order Flow value has been falling over the last 5 bars (selling pressure is building)
This is deliberately simple — the key question is just: is buying or selling pressure trending right now?
Reading the Bars
🟢 Green (above 50 midline)
Net buying pressure — buyers in control
🔴 Red (below 50 midline)
Net selling pressure — sellers in control
Tall bar
Strong directional pressure
Short bar near midline
Weak or balanced buying/selling
Look for growing green bars during a long setup and growing red bars during a short setup. When bars shrink back toward the midline, Order Flow is neutralizing — be cautious.
Settings
Enable Order Flow
Order Flow section
Enables or disables the Order Flow pillar entirely
The internal Order Flow parameters (z-score window, normalization period, clamp) are fixed and calibrated for crypto markets on 1H–4H timeframes.
Tips
Order Flow divergence is one of the most powerful setups available. If price makes a new low but Order Flow makes a higher low, sellers are losing steam even as price drops. The divergence system can automatically detect and score this.
On illiquid assets or small-cap coins, volume data may be sparse or unreliable. Consider disabling Order Flow for these assets.
In ranging markets, Order Flow bars often alternate between small green and red near the midline with no clear conviction. The Chop Zone filter on the Momentum pillar usually handles this — but watching bar height is an additional visual confirmation of conviction.
The bar colors in the Style tab are labelled Color 0 (bullish/green) and Color 1 (bearish/red) — you can customize these colors to your preference.
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