FOREX MARKET INTELLIGENCE

See the market
beneath the price.

Forex orderbooks provide a different perspective on financial markets. They reveal how orders and liquidity are distributed across price levels, offering insight into market depth, buying and selling interest, and potential areas of price concentration.

Market Depth Price Distribution Liquidity Order Imbalance
MARKET STRUCTURE / ILLUSTRATION EUR / USD
BEST BID 1.08520
SPREAD 0.8 PIPS
BEST ASK 1.08528
BUY SIDE / BIDS SELL SIDE / ASKS
1.08560
1.08550
1.08540
1.08528
1.08520
1.08510
1.08500
BUY ORDERS Liquidity
MARKET Price Levels
SELL ORDERS Liquidity
ILLUSTRATIVE MARKET DATA / NOT LIVE PRICES
UNDERSTANDING ORDERBOOKS

Price tells you where the market is. Orderbooks show you what is waiting there.

Most Forex charts display historical and current price movements. An orderbook adds another dimension by showing available buying and selling interest at different price levels.

This information can help traders examine liquidity, identify concentrations of orders, assess the potential impact of larger transactions and understand how the market structure changes as prices move.

What does an orderbook show?

An orderbook generally contains bids and asks. Bids represent buying interest. Asks represent selling interest. Each price level can contain different quantities of available orders. The relationship between these orders provides information about the available liquidity around the market price.

WHY ORDERBOOKS MATTER

Look beyond price movements.

Orderbook information can help traders understand the structure behind market movements and identify information that ordinary price charts do not display.

01 / LIQUIDITY

Understand Market Liquidity

Examine the available buying and selling quantities at different prices. Identify areas with greater or lower displayed liquidity.

02 / CONCENTRATION

Identify Order Clusters

Locate price levels where larger quantities of orders are concentrated. These areas can be relevant when analysing market structure.

03 / IMBALANCE

Compare Buying and Selling Interest

Compare bid and ask quantities to identify displayed liquidity imbalances and changes in the distribution of orders.

04 / EXECUTION

Assess Market Impact

Understand how available liquidity may affect the execution of larger transactions and potential price slippage.

05 / STRUCTURE

Study Market Structure

Examine how liquidity is distributed around the current price and how the distribution changes over time.

06 / STRATEGY

Improve Trading Decisions

Combine orderbook information with technical analysis, volume, volatility and other market indicators to support trading decisions.

EXPLORE ORDERBOOK STRUCTURES

Different views.
Different market insights.

Orderbook data can be presented in different ways. Each visualisation highlights a different aspect of market liquidity and order distribution.

01 / LIQUIDITY DISTRIBUTION

Market Depth

Market depth displays the quantity of buy and sell orders available at different price levels. It provides a visual overview of how liquidity is distributed around the current market price.

Larger concentrations of displayed orders can identify areas of significant liquidity. However, these orders can change or disappear before execution.

Liquidity Order Concentration Bid / Ask
MARKET DEPTH EUR/USD
BUY ORDERS SELL ORDERS
1.0838
1.0848
1.0836
1.0850
1.0834
1.0852
1.0832
1.0854
1.0830
1.0856
Illustrative distribution of displayed bid and ask quantities.
02 / PRICE LEVEL ANALYSIS

Price Ladder

A price ladder presents individual price levels alongside their corresponding bid and ask quantities. It gives traders a more detailed view of the orderbook.

Traders can use this structure to compare liquidity at neighbouring prices, monitor changes in displayed quantities and examine the relationship between bids and asks.

Price Levels Order Size Bid / Ask
PRICE LADDER EUR/USD
BID SIZE PRICE ASK SIZE
1.25M 1.08560 0.42M
2.10M 1.08550 0.85M
3.40M 1.08540 1.20M
2.80M 1.08530 2.15M
1.90M 1.08520 3.60M
0.95M 1.08510 4.10M
BUY QUANTITY SELL QUANTITY
Illustrative order quantities at individual price levels.
03 / HISTORICAL LIQUIDITY

Orderbook Heatmap

A liquidity heatmap displays the concentration of orders across price levels and time. Different colour intensities represent different quantities of displayed liquidity.

This visualisation helps traders study how liquidity develops, moves or disappears. It can also help identify persistent liquidity concentrations and changes in market structure.

Historical Depth Liquidity Clusters Time Analysis
LIQUIDITY HEATMAP EUR/USD
PRICE 09:00 09:15 09:30 09:45 10:00 10:15 10:30 10:45
1.0860
1.0858
1.0856
1.0854
1.0852
1.0850
LOW LIQUIDITY
HIGH LIQUIDITY
Illustrative historical distribution of displayed liquidity.
04 / BUY AND SELL IMBALANCE

Orderbook Imbalance

Orderbook imbalance compares the quantities of bids and asks across selected price levels. It helps identify differences between displayed buying and selling interest.

A larger bid quantity may indicate greater displayed buying liquidity. A larger ask quantity may indicate greater displayed selling liquidity. Traders can monitor these differences as market conditions change.

Bid / Ask Ratio Liquidity Imbalance Market Structure
ORDERBOOK IMBALANCE EUR/USD
BID QUANTITY 64.8%
ASK QUANTITY 35.2%
LEVEL 01
65 / 35
LEVEL 02
72 / 28
LEVEL 03
48 / 52
LEVEL 04
80 / 20
Illustrative comparison of bid and ask quantities.
Understanding the different structures

These visualisations represent different ways to analyse orderbook information. Market depth shows available liquidity. A price ladder displays individual price levels. A heatmap adds a time dimension to liquidity distribution. Orderbook imbalance compares bid and ask quantities. They are complementary views of market structure.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

How traders use orderbook data.

Orderbook information can support several trading and market research activities. Its value increases when combined with other market data.

01

Finding Liquidity Zones

Identify price levels with larger displayed quantities. Study whether liquidity remains at those levels or changes as price approaches.

02

Studying Potential Support and Resistance

Examine areas where displayed orders are concentrated. These areas can provide additional context when analysing technical support and resistance.

03

Understanding Execution Conditions

Evaluate available liquidity at different prices. This can help assess potential execution costs and price slippage.

04

Monitoring Changes in Liquidity

Track how displayed quantities change over time. Observe whether liquidity increases, decreases or moves to different price levels.

05

Comparing Market Conditions

Compare liquidity distributions across different trading sessions, currency pairs and market conditions.

06

Developing Quantitative Strategies

Use orderbook features such as depth, imbalance and liquidity changes as inputs for statistical analysis, algorithmic trading and machine learning.

DATA INTERPRETATION

Understand the limitations.

Orderbook data can provide valuable information. However, traders must understand the limitations of the data before using it in their analysis.

Fragmented Forex Market

Forex is a decentralised over-the-counter market. There is no single central orderbook that represents all global currency trading. Different sources can display different liquidity and order information.

Displayed Liquidity Can Change

Orders can be modified or cancelled before execution. A large displayed order does not guarantee that the quantity will remain available when the market reaches that price.

Source-Specific Information

Each data source can represent a different segment of the market. Its available depth depends on the venue, liquidity providers, aggregation method and data access.

MARKET DATA ECOSYSTEM

Connected to the Forex industry.

TrueScale has established interactions with financial market participants across the Forex industry. These connections contribute to our broader market intelligence ecosystem and our understanding of available market data.

DukascopyDUKASCOPY
Saxo BankSAXO BANK
PepperstonePEPPERSTONE
IGIG
OANDAOANDA
FOREX.comFOREX.COM
TRUESCALE / MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Understand more than price.

Market prices tell only part of the story. Liquidity, order distribution and market structure provide additional information that can help traders develop a more complete understanding of the Forex market.