CVD, delta and the L2 book
Cumulative delta, reading the depth book and the DOM ladder.
After the footprint, the other two pillars of reading order flow are CVD and the L2 book.
CVD (Cumulative Volume Delta)
A bar’s delta is the difference between volume bought (at the ask) and sold (at the bid). CVD is the running sum of those deltas over time: it tells you whether, as the session goes on, buying or selling pressure prevails.
- CVD rising while price rises → buying that “accompanies” the move.
- CVD and price diverging → a signal worth watching (the move is not supported by the flow).
CVD is available as a sub-chart in the Cockpit and as a metric in the Workspace.
L2 book and DOM
The L2 book (or DOM, Depth of Market) shows resting orders across several price levels, with the sizes at bid (below) and ask (above). It shows you where liquidity is waiting.
In the Workspace, under the “Order flow” category, you find the DOM ladder widget, which lays the levels out vertically with their sizes. Rows can carry annotations about detected walls and icebergs, see Walls and icebergs.
The book is a snapshot of resting liquidity; the footprint and CVD instead tell you what was actually executed. Together they give the full order-flow picture.