Order Flow Basics

Order flow is the real-time record of the buy and sell orders hitting the market — the raw supply and demand behind every price move. Order Flow Basics is where you build the foundation: what order flow actually is, how an auction discovers price, who the market participants are, and the difference between initiative and responsive activity. These guides explain how price moves, and why, in plain English — before you touch a single indicator. If you have traded candlesticks for years but never understood the mechanics underneath them, start here. Master these fundamentals and everything else — footprint charts, volume profile, delta — becomes far easier to read, because you will finally understand the auction they are all describing.