Hi traders,
I’ve been exploring order flow indicators lately, especially on platforms like FastBull and TradingView. I’m interested in hearing how you use these tools in your trading strategies.
What are some practical ways to analyze order flow for better entry and exit points? Any tips on combining them with other indicators?
It’s not really applicable to CFDs/spot forex, @Nnamdi.K , as explained here -
The only order flow a CFD “broker” has available, and therefore the only information they can give you, relates to the orders of their own customers.
CFD “traders” are not actually buying/selling anything. No currencies change hands between a CFD trader and their “broker”. It’s just a bet. 
There are correlations between retail order books, especially when it comes to market order placement (stops). Almost all retail traders place buy stops above recent swing highs or sell stops below recent lows. Oanda’s order book has always had very high correlation with other retail order books.
I’ve preferred entering trades after stops run, as that usually gives me the best pricing. Some of us trade toward concentrations of stops and exit when they run. FX Option levels are also great levels for order flow trading as option writers try to stay ahead of Gamma, accelerating price discovery up to the option level, but not past them. If price does breach the level, exercising of the option creates heavy flow of opposing orders. When I was reporting FX Options, Thompson Reuters’ Eikon was the best platform to see where they were, with exact size. Not sure if Eikon is the best, but you can ask Justin where he gets his info on Option Order Flow from. I had a good online relationship with Sean Lee back when he was reporting orders, constantly bouncing FX order info to and from them like SWF limit orders, large exotic option levels, Japanese exporter limit orders, ect.
As for other indicators, some of us used market profile or ninja trader’s footprint indicators. That’s about it though.
Oh that’s cool! Are those like weekly and monthly expirations?
There’s options (vanilla & exotic) expiring everyday in FX. The New York 10am cut is always the biggest expiration in terms of volume. The bigger their size, the more gravity they have on price.
I use order flow to confirm entries, with footprint charts showing real-time buyer/seller pressure. Delta and CVD help spot fake breakouts or absorption, and I combine this with volume profile to trade near key zones. It’s all about confirmation and precision, not signals.
Just a heads-up that platforms like FastBull and TradingView don’t provide “real” order flow (direct order book access). What we see are valuable volume-based indicators. I find them excellent for confirming supply/demand zones when combined with price action.
It’s not about what “platforms” they are. It’s about what information exists and can be displayed by any platform.
If trading CFDs, the only volume and order information available from any “broker” relates to volumes “transacted” (i.e. bet on) and orders submitted by their own customers.
Some platform (TV, MT5 etc.) can be used to trade either CFDs or other instruments (futures), in which case what they can each display depends on the market being traded, NOT on the platform itself.
Just look at multiple retail order books and correlate similar stop levels. Take bank order books for exporter limit orders, binary & vanilla option orders, ect.
Every retail forex broker sells or shares their clients positions and orders.
Sorry but this just isn’t right. TV “provides” whatever is fed into it for it to provide. People using it to trade futures (I don’t, my brother does) get CME order flow displayed by it. That’s as real as you can get.