Marks the largest aggressive orders from the futures trade stream with bubbles, buyers above and sellers below.
Overview
Big Trades (L1) is the Big Trades indicator for futures, fed by the futures trade stream (Data feed L1). It marks only the orders that stand out, as bubbles at their average price, sized by order size.
It is the Big Trades on NQ, ES, YM, GC, SI, CL and their micros. Crypto charts use Big Trades, which reads public exchange trades.
How it works
Fills on the same side within a short burst (150 ms gap, up to 4 ticks of price walk) are joined into one order. In Automatic mode the size threshold comes from the recorded trades for the symbol, so only unusually large orders show. Manual mode uses your own min and max size.
History comes from up to 48 hours of recorded trades; new trades arrive over the chart's shared connection.
How to use it
- Some traders watch where large orders appear near highs, lows or key levels.
- Use two copies with different size bands to separate order sizes.
- Hover a bubble to read its size.
These are ways some traders read it, for learning. They are not trade signals.
Settings
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Data | |
| Aggregate fills into one orderConsecutive same-side prints in a short burst count as ONE order. | On |
| Burst gap (ms)Largest pause between two fills of one order. | 150 |
| Price walk (ticks)A sweep through up to this many ticks counts as one order. | 4 |
| Also count fills at one price over (s)Adds up same-side fills at the same price over this many seconds, so a big order filled by many small ones shows. 0 = off. | 0 |
| Filter | |
| FilterOptions: Automatic, Manual | Automatic |
| IntensityAbout 40 / 25 / 15 / 8 markers per session. Very low = more markers.Options: Very low, Low, Medium, Strong | Medium |
| Min size (contracts) | 0 |
| Max size (0 = no limit)Run two copies with different bands. | 0 |
| Plot | |
| MarkerOptions: Circle, Square, Diamond, Text only | Circle |
Show all 18 settings
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Size scale (SD)Higher = markers grow more slowly with impact. | 1 |
| Fill opacity | 0.7 |
| Buyers (hit the ask) | #03c988 |
| Sellers (hit the bid) | #f23645 |
| Show size | Off |
| Show fills count | Off |
| Mark absorption (A)Big order, but price did not follow it in the next minute. | On |
| Show levels swept | On |
| Extend levels (bars, 0 = off)A faint line from the biggest orders to the right. | 0 |
Notes and limits
- Uses the futures trade stream (Data feed L1). Futures L1 data is free for members who sign the market data agreement.
- No longer in the Indicators window: futures order flow is now the (L2) tools, part of Pro. A saved chart that still holds this one is switched to Big Trades (L2) automatically.
- Joining fills into one order is an estimate based on timing and price.
- Futures only (NQ, ES, YM, RTY, CL, GC and their micros).
Education only. Not financial advice. Indicators mark what happened on the chart; they do not predict what price will do. Trading futures, forex, crypto and other markets carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for everyone.