I’m exploring footprint chart features on platforms like FastBull curious how others apply them in real trading.
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Footprint charts don’t apply to spot forex CFD trading, because they have inputs like volume and order-flow.
Forex is decentralized, so the only information a CFD “broker” can possibly give you (because it’s all they can have) is their own customers’ volume and orders, which isn’t useful.
(For people trading currency futures, of course, it’s a whole different story and situation).
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There’s a conspiracy of ignoring (occasionally even denying!!) this reality, at Babypips.
There are people who don’t believe it, people who don’t understand it, people who dislike it, and people who apparently think that if they just ignore it completely it will go away and not be relevant to them. 
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Futures trader?
Yeah, I’ve played around with them quite a bit. They’re pretty handy for seeing the real action behind the price moves like who’s buying or selling and when. I wouldn’t say they’re my go-to all the time but they definitely help me get a clearer picture of what’s happening in the market.
Which “market” are you referring to there, @chen2020 ? 
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Footprint charts! I agree with Statistyx. No use in CFDs. How are you applying this to the online trading market? Wondering!
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That’s for certain. They need stuff like volume and order-book that you don’t get with CFDs. Footprint charts are from futures.
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I usually combine them with other methods to get a fuller picture of the market. How do you incorporate footprint charts into your own analysis?"
May I ask you the same question that I asked @chen2020 above, please Vittoria? Which “market” are you referring to, there?
I’m confused. Because as @Statistyx and @Phosphodiesterase have mentioned above, forex CFDs are decentralized, so there are no volume or order-book figures available, so retail “traders” positions aren’t actually in a “market”.
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You need to read @ Phosphodiesterase’s post just above, then. 
Bear in mind that many people posting in this forum haven’t read through even the basic Babypips lessons, and commonly imagine that when they “trade” CFDs, they’re dealing with a “broker” and that their trades are in a “market”.
And bear in mind that the “brokers” want them to think that, and want them to keep thinking that.
And bear in mind that the “brokers” often use terms like “ECN” and “STP” and “DMA” and “NDD” in an attempt to prevent them from learning that that isn’t actually true at all.
And bear in mind that a lot of the industry (i.e. not just the “brokers”) is set up specifically to keep people thinking that.
And bear in mind that because of all that, they think that the “order-book” of their own “broker” is an actual market order-book and will be helpful to them, and/or they think that the “volumes” of their own “broker’s” other customers are actual market volumes and will be helpful to them.
And bear in mind that some of them don’t like being told how deeply mistaken and misled they are, and that if you try to correct their misinformation, you’re just an “interfering busybody” and/or a “negative poster”!
(When you get to my age, you won’t care about that so much, any more, lol.)
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It’s not only at Babypips.
Leonardo da Vinci said that there are three groups of people. People who can see, people who can see when they’re shown, and people who can’t see.
In the area of trading I sometimes wonder if there’s a fourth group, too. People who could see if only they knew they’d originally started off with mostly misinformation but don’t want to acknowledge that, and therefore prefer not to see.
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footprint charts can be super useful once you get the hang of them. they show you actual order flow like where buyers and sellers are active within each candle. i use them mostly to spot absorption zones or imbalances that hint at possible reversals or strong continuations
if you’re using something like fastbull and just getting started focus on basic stuff first like delta and volume clusters. don’t overcomplicate it. once you start seeing patterns it becomes easier to trust what the data’s showing instead of guessing based on price alone
worth pairing with other tools too like session volume or structure levels to make it more complete
Indeed, footprint charts in spot forex are limited to broker data—not true market flow. My experience on futures taught me to rely more on volume profiles and price action for clearer edge.
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Exactly so. Valetax, ironically, who is a broker himself, seems to be the one person posting in the thread who hasn’t understood this essential point! Most strange !! 
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From my experience, footprint charts are fairly new, so most retail traders still use traditional technical analysis which dates back centuries. Because of this, footprints aren’t widely established with retail traders.
The edge I’ve found using them is a much clearer view of order flow and volume at price, which can help with more precise entries and exits.
It’s really not usually because of that, at all. It’s because (as so many people have now explained, above) the components of footprint charts aren’t available for CFDs, because they’re a decentralized market, and most retail traders are trading CFDs.
I agree completely, there. You must be trading futures, then, not spot forex CFDs, for that information to be available to you.
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I believe that actually this thread neatly illustrates quite well the point I just made ONE minute ago, here: it looks like the only two posters in this thread who don’t quite understand the point made there by @TheodoreThring are the two with links in their profiles!! 
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Yes, this is so. And one of them, in particular, has made a large number of posts I can only describe as “weird”, all over the forum, several of them bumping antique threads. (The moderators, to be both fair and grateful to them, have apparently removed some of his posts!).
It’s pretty hard to conceal promotional agendas, in forums.
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Other trading forums label such members “Commercial Member” or “Vendor” next to their username. This way everyone knows. It’s open. It’s legitimate. Nobody can ever complain about it. It makes the vendors behave much better, too. It’s a real win/win/win!! 
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