 Good afternoon traders and welcome to the bookmap peru trader webinar today with trader aid. We haven't had them before Good, so we are excited to host this event here. I'm Bruce at bookmap and Trader aid and in particular here horse lover fat is the handle here. That's the on Twitter on YouTube in and Their website just go to trader aid calm But anyway known on their Twitter as horse lover fat horse is a retail trader and investor He utilizes technical analysis and order flow primarily trading futures interday and swing trading stocks and ETFs Horse is passionate about helping other retail traders on Twitter as well as continually learning from others as nice Discord chat room that they have over there I have their website here and a special offers Affiliate offers from trader aid as well. I'll put these into the chat So if you're interested you can click directly and go to the website Go through the disclosures, and then we'll turn it right over general disclosure all bookmap limited materials information and Presentations are for educational purposes only and should not be considered Oops, sorry should not be considered specific investment advice nor recommendations Live trading is in simulation demo paper trading mode and strictly for educational purposes live trading Executed in simulation cannot accurately represent realistic trading performance The risk disclosure trading futures equities and digital currencies involves central risk of loss It is not suitable for all investors and investor could potentially lose all or more than the initial investment Risk capital is money that can be lost without jeopardizing one's financial security nor lifestyle Only risk capital should be used for trading and only those with sufficient risk capital should consider trading past performance Is not necessarily indicative of future results. All right, so let's get started here and Let me broadcast Horses screen here Okay, we're all set Perfect. All right, thanks for having me Bruce I'm excited to be here and it was nice to connect with you recently you dropped by our discord It was awesome to hear from you and doing an overview from some of our members and how There's some of book maps functionality I'm excited to talk specifically about how I use it specifically here today with you guys I will say I guess as a disclaimer before we get started I noticed the series here is called pro trader series and I'm definitely not a pro trader I am a retail trader and in quite proud of it and the way that I use Book map might be a little bit different Maybe a little bit higher level than some of the the detailed Intra day scalping that I've seen come out of your group or some members of your group, which is fascinating by the way But maybe the way I utilize it is just a tad different So I threw us a few slides together here just to talk about a couple very specific things That I've incorporated over the years from from your software into my intraday strategy So one is obviously liquidity will cover that which is probably something everybody's very familiar with breakout validity and a couple of Specific trade setups that I didn't really know what to call them. So that's why they're they're in quotes here So I sort of made up my own terminology for these setups one that I call carrot sticking and another one that we call the tell So these are what I wanted to cover today Feel free to jump in with any questions at all just just to give people background. I primarily trade. Yes futures so most of what we'll talk around is is based on on that and Yeah, so that's a little bit about myself I guess and how I've come to use this software is is what we're gonna get into now. Are we okay to jump into the slides here Bruce? Yeah, absolutely All right, so I mean one of the first concepts obviously for myself just to give a little bit of background about how I trade most of my Day trading revolves around the 30 minute opening range for ES In fact, I've shared quite a bit about the different strategies ways to trade that I know everyone has their preferred time frames if you are a opening range trader Different ones are popular for different instruments for me. I found 30 minutes has been The the most beneficial I got the best back testing results for it There's a few specific trade setups that I use within there and then when I discovered book map It really helped I think it took things to the next level for me for for a lot of different reasons Just being we're able to visualize where the liquidity is Made a big difference for knowing when to get in and out of positions and obviously I mean everyone has seen screenshots that look something like this but As a retail trader Before it was almost like I was sort of trading blind without this information Yeah, you have the different that you know The order book that you can look at visualize in other software or a lot of times It was top of book or level 2 data book map really sort of opened my eyes to being able to visualize this I'm a visual person in a whole new way to see where is large institutional interest hanging out and Allowing that to sort of guide some of my intraday bias. So the rules of thumb and again I like I said before I'm not a professional So this was stuff that I just sort of took notes and observed and watched I came up with sort of my own rules of thumb that I used to guide some of my intraday trading when I talk about liquidity or large resting limit orders I'm mostly interested on ES and orders of 500 lots or greater That stay on the book Overnight or through multiple sessions those have a lot more weight to me in terms of intraday Liquidity that really is I guess subjective to you know What what you're seeing on the book already if you know if there's it's pretty thin out there and somebody puts a 300 lot Order up that's that's interesting But overall in terms of swinging to these points of liquidity or using them Using their sort of natural magnetic effect I'm typically looking for more than 500 lots on ES and I do like to see it stay on the book for more than one session That sort of validates it for me like that is an actual interested large participant rather than somebody that has a Stink bit or a worst-case scenario hedge in or something like that intraday if they pull it at the end of the trading day It loses its weight for me as somebody that sort of I wouldn't I would not call Myself a scalper you know I'm not going tick for tick which I know book map is incredible for seeing a lot of that engagement a lot of times For me I am doing it's it's even hard to call it swinging because it's almost really usually a day or two It's not even really swing trading but Looking to trade towards large areas of liquidity Especially when there isn't any anything else. That's significant. This is a very old screenshot by the way But it's just visualizing how awesome book map makes it and clear your software makes it to see where are the big players? Hanging out so that's become very important to me to not fight that Depending on which side of the opening range we are for the day this particular example You know, this is a long time ago. We were trading up here I just pulled it from some older slides But in an example like this if the the trend for the day Which I use the opening range to gauge if it's bullish or bearish if the trend would be bullish in a scenario like this I am more likely to hold positions and swing towards that liquidity as the day progresses Then I would be to get out so one thing it does for me is gives me sort of the confidence to Target things it doesn't always work out this way. I think anyone that uses book map or takes large orders into consideration knows You know, there is no hard firm rules in trading, right? There's there's probabilities And so for me over time, I've noticed you know, obviously price tends to gravitate towards larger areas of liquidity Somebody wants to transact and they're sort of raising their hand or tipping Retail like us off that. Hey, we want to transact up here or down here I take that into consideration very very strongly in terms of guiding my bias I'm definitely aware of where the large participants are at all times because I think you have to be right and it's not just single orders Like this slide shows you're 1300 plus lots It's not just single orders. I'm interested and it would be the stacks of liquidity and from a probabilistic perspective That has more weight to me. We're more likely to gravitate towards there Then not so that's the very first foundational thing when I when I put out some videos about how I trade is just knowing Where the liquidity is you we need to factor that as traders into the back of our mind While we're making decisions in today, it doesn't mean it's it like no matter where we're at I'm gonna take the long because I know we're gonna go fill that it's it's a map more of a matter being conscious that it's there and Fighting against it sometimes can be problematic. So that's my personal cutoff 500 lots gets my attention or more But again, it sort of depends on the day if you if it's very thin then it could be three four hundred lots Gets my attention but good rule of thumb orders on the book over five hundred lots that stay there for multiple sessions the likelihood of those being filled increases pretty dramatically and This is sort of this is just an additional slide where we talked about that difference between what I would call like a session order and a true Resting limit order that somebody wants to get filled You can clearly see using book map that that interest taken away at the end of the regular trading session So it doesn't really have that validity now in a case like this I would look the following day for sure to see are they back are they back and it's something that they truly want to fill But a lot of times, you know the challenge here is sort of discerning between what is that session order and a true resting Limit order like the one above it in this example. This was up at 44 80 Staying on the book and truly leaving that liquidity there This you know sort of gives a little bit more of a probabilistic edge to the buyers to the upside in a scenario like this So that's the first main principle I guess is starting zoomed out about as far as you can get is just Understanding where the liquidity is and knowing that it's likely to have a magnetic effect if it's been on the book for a while The other thing, you know Utilizing that intraday has a lot of the validity too So now we're talking more about those session orders instead of the ones that stay Across the book. How do I use these to guide my trading? Again, they have the same General magnetic effect in the vast majority of cases where I would be interested in Sort of the opposite side of that magnet magnet and it becomes repellent is watching very detailed The the price action in a very detailed way when an order hits the book So I'm sure a lot of your users are very familiar with this as somebody comes in with size and we run away from it now You're you know, you're looking at sort of the other Characteristic of magnets, which is they can repel away from each other That is something you have to be watching closely to be able to see in the tech as soon as it hits the book How did price react? Well in a scenario I grabbed this screenshot from yesterday just to have something a little bit more relevant for your users In this scenario, you can see Liquidity placed on the book and the reaction was quite bullish almost Instantaneously wanting to gravitate towards it So you do sort of have to watch in my experience in the way that I use this is what does the market do right when it appears? Does it run from it or does it immediately make a move towards it? This one I would even admit it's probably a bit cherry-picked because it's a bit farther away than I would typically see But I thought it was a really beautiful example of price just Gravitating towards a larger area of liquidity. The other thing is you can't make any of these decisions in a vacuum, right? So the trend for this session was bullish. It was an update trend the market the buyers were definitely the aggressors We had an opening-range breakout so that using that in context with what we're seeing here gives it even more validity After this pullback that the market reacted very very Instantaneously towards large interest back above and we slowly grind it all the way back up there So that is something that I'd be interested in knowing. Hey, if this is a bullish update As it is and I know my opening range high is somewhere around. I think it was around 47 yesterday The way that I would play this would be to get back in that trade long above the opening range High is knowing that the market is seeing this interest this liquidity above It is doing its thing to slowly grind back up there for me there from a risk reward perspective It's much safer to get in after I've confirmed that with something else and for me I like I said I use the opening range So if we're above that I have no reason to be bearish So my entry in a situation like this wouldn't just to be totally honest Wouldn't actually be down here when I first saw the reaction which you know kudos if that's if that's where you would take that trade That's fantastic But for me I tend not to be as interested in bottom ticking or top ticking every market I'm more interested in getting sort of the meat of the move Getting in at a place where I think it's a little bit safer from a risk reward perspective So waiting in this example knowing that this large order is a magnet Where's the safest place for me to get in in a structural downtrend is probably not the answer for me So I would wait until we confirm back above the opening range high Then taking that day trade to try to rush back to the liquidity that the market has tipped its hand towards That is something I'm very conscious of And just how I do it and I'm sure I'm leaving quite a few points on the table But at the same time again, it's hard to make any trading decision in a vacuum in this particular scenario This is a pretty sharp pullback for which started as a very bullish day. We're now under the opening range Hi, there's a lot of competing factors that I don't know if you know, maybe the market retest this Glob of interest right here and then pulls right back down that that's just as likely to me Which is why I wouldn't enter along at this point I'd want to see some confirmation Which I think bookmat makes pretty easy to do and see that you know We've pushed back above that breakout level and you had sellers stepping in right away But they couldn't get anywhere with it So it's it's giving me the confidence to lean into longs back towards the liquidity. So a couple different ways I look at large resting order liquidity like I said the the ones that truly stay on the book You know the actual limit orders that rests there for a while Those have a gravitational effect in my experience and then this example is one that's more intraday So paying attention again, this is not above 500 lots But relative to the other liquidity that we see for that particular session 300 plus lots is Significant right because just scanning the book up and down, you know, if you were to zoom out This was a larger than normal for that session order So it would have that same magnetic effect to me But I'm not viewing it through the lens of caring if this order stays on the book tomorrow I don't really care in this case. It's not over 500 lots But it does help from a probabilistic standpoint confirm Confirming taking that breakout long again above the opening range highs Not sure if that explanation makes sense I hope it does but I think it's important to distinguish The difference between talking about like a session order on the book and a true resting order And maybe those words aren't valid. I shouldn't say true But trying to come up with ways to describe This phenomena in the best that I can because I don't really know the proper language here But there is a difference and I think it's worth distinguishing between those because they should be used differently In how we guide our trading So a lot very clear. I mean, uh, really nice strategy as well Yeah, well, thanks Bruce. I appreciate that. I think it's it's really about where where can I Make entries that are the least likely to hurt me. I mean, it's as simple as that And I think book map makes it easy sometimes when it's saying, hey, we got people above that are interested So I know price is likely to gravitate towards there, especially when when the liquidity is relatively poor Which we see around the holidays times like this when you know, you just don't have as much active Engagement with size in the market. I mean, I expect that to return after the new year You know natural flows into the market With a new year, but this time of year I think book map is is especially critical because there isn't typically the same Amount of resting liquidity that we would normally see So when someone tips their hand on the book for as a retail trader, that is the absolutely critical information To at least be conscious of you know, it doesn't like I said, it doesn't mean it justifies an automatic long or short As soon as you see the liquidity hit the book I do think it takes a little bit of observation. How did the market react? Did it get its attention? In a way that gives us clues that it's likely to gravitate towards it or is it running from it? Is it have that repel effect? So it's not just to me as simple as saying where is the liquidity? It's also how is price reacting when it appears is because obviously we all know there's extensive algorithmic high frequency trading Forces at play in the market that it is impossible for all of us to understand Exactly what's going on in all those scenarios in my opinion So the best we can do is look at some of these behavioral characteristics of price to try to get a probabilistic edge here Is it more likely? Then not to do this or that those are the terms that I think in as a as a trader Even if I don't quite understand all of the ins and outs and what's happening from an algorithmic perspective This is a another screenshot from yesterday's session. Same thing. I just zoomed in on something a little bit prior to Prior to the the area that we were looking at on the last slide here So this is right around 10 o'clock where for me the opening range is established our highs and lows for the session That I would be interested in in leaning in Into either one of those the higher percentage play For me is to lean into the breakout than it would be to fade it And you know, does that always work? No, but that's that's where risk management comes into play and you know getting Taking your stopouts if if you're wrong and you see a rejection at the opening range highs You're in and price Effectively moves back down towards the middle of the opening range You have a really high chance at a d-shaped profile from a volume perspective A distribution day or a consolidation day where fading the edges might make a lot more sense buying the opening range lows Shorting the opening range highs in this particular example We we didn't have any evidence of that the buyer stepped in fully in control 10 o'clock You have the turn the period change here and the buyers kept doing their thing So for me when I talk about using this in point number two here for breakout validity What i'm trying to assess is you know, do we see here? You can see the highs pull back another test of the highs. I am not a fan of double tops or double bottoms I do think the market likes to absolutely plow through those things So this is a case where you would look through book map to potentially the way that I trade if you miss the opening range High breakout This is the key area that I would be looking for right? So they burst back through it you have a natural pull back in a in a really total lack of interest From the sellers to push back down through invalidating that saying hey This is going to be our highs for the session if the way that I use book map If they if the sellers had stepped in right at this particular level Which this is not quite granular enough for me apologies to determine what that is somewhere around 54 If the sellers had stepped in here Pushing us right back down that would have sort of invalidated this breakout for me saying okay the highs Are likely in for the session right? We had buyer excess or potential exhaustion Which often when you see this I mean most traders know you see this skippy Action up here somebody got absolutely shoved probably a bunch of stops ran So if you see the sellers answer Then I from a probabilistic standpoint would start thinking in my head It's pretty likely these highs would last for the session And we're going to pull back and consolidate or at least test retest the opening range highs down here at 47 The beauty of book map is instantly being able to see no interest from the sellers there or no aggression I could say you see one little participant Um here that made an attempt and it just completely backfired buyer stepped right back in pushing it back So that what that tells me is at this point these highs are probably not valid We're probably going higher the buys want buyers want it more So as somebody that trades pretty conservatively again I am if I wasn't already in the long which considering this is the opening range high down here I probably would have been but if I wasn't this would give me the confidence to even buy the high And I know that's something that traders often struggle with bias wise is You know, it's gone too far too fast too high whatever adjectives we want to use to describe price action A lot of those are very dangerous There is sometimes no such thing is too high or too low Seeing the action immediately and being able to visualize the lack of interest from the sellers or lack of aggression from the sellers And repeat rebid interest from the buyers Gives me the confidence to lean in Again to this whether you're pyramiding and adding to a position or taking a fresh entry The these highs are unlikely to hold in this scenario because the the this uh breakout point right here Which you have, you know, if we were to draw a line a pretty clear Line right here from previous highs that were tested tested tested and then break out break out You could lean back into that breakout because the sellers were not able to get it done So that's another way when I said bullet number two breakout validity I think you can see this on a candlestick chart as well But for me the visualization and the bubble size sort of matters to me I guess proportionally that this was a lot of volume to create this breakout a sell a buyer came in here and really just Just smashed on the offer Comparatively we don't see that aggression answered from the sellers They attempted up here and they got a little way but buyers stepped right back in so a lot of times I use book map to confirm either a trend day or breakout to say okay This is the higher probability play. There is no 100% safe trade in trading ever I mean all all trading comes with risk But what we're looking for is probabilities and I think being able to visualize the engagement From one side or the other by that. I mean buyers or sellers Can help give you that confidence to make sure you're on the right team and as a retail trader Honestly, that's all I'm trying to do my my, you know, five to 10 lot max trades. They're not moving the market I am not pushing price around. I am a small potato or a small fish in this very big big pond All I'm trying to do is make sure that I'm on the winning team and being able to see the Visualization of that intraday and and you know that kind of stuff gives us power and confidence to be on the right side of price action There was a good example here too that I wanted to call out. It's a little hard to see from this screenshot But another thing that I look for In book map, especially with the opening range high We had a really nice example of it yesterday that I think I called out in our discord because it was just almost Perfect But another thing that you can see often with the resting liquidity and right here that the algorithmic Band around price makes it difficult to see is after we had an opening range high breakout There was a decent size player that came in I think right around here You can see where it got dark if I was to zoom in this is a screenshot So I can't they they re bid Right at the opening range highs and I like being able to see that much at the time It didn't look like this at the time. It looked more like this I keep the the resolution in the background for book map pretty low. I want to be able to see the big orders Jump out at me. That's why you you see a lot of black on my book map or as others. It might be a little bit more You know gray scaled or blue like this But what we saw after the opening range high breakout happened yesterday is you saw a player come back in right at the opening range High and re bidding putting resting limits there That's another thing that even before this scenario played out Should have given us more confidence in taking the longs because the there's a larger player than myself several hundred lots Enters the market and say hey, I like that opening range breakout if we pull back here I'm in for a bit as well So a lot of those there's different clues that you can sort of glean by large participant activity And if I was to boil down like what's the main value of book map for me as a retail trader That's really it being able to see large Participant activity in a way that speaks to how my brain is wired. I know everyone's a little different But I'm a very visual person. So it really helps me Sense or give me that sense of comfort that I'm at least on the right side for the session The third way that I utilize this. This is just a screenshot I wrote an article on it for our trader aid members members And something it's a pattern of behavior in the market that I find very fascinating Somebody one of your astute users in here or watching might have a better term for this I didn't know what to call it. So I sort of just made up a terminology for this So I could remember it and I call it carrot sticking And I wanted to talk through what that is and what it looks like It from a visual perspective on book map It's something that I found to be quite powerful when it comes to trend days And what that phenomena is basically is when you don't have or you're looking at resting limit orders through book map And there's no interest above or below But when a large order is filled interest immediately shows up where there wasn't previously any I refer to this as carrot sticking. I know it's kind of a cheesy corny term But this has been a really powerful thing for me because when you're you see it most often in a trend day But by that I mean like relentless Aggressive price action in one direction be it buying or selling for the session You typically have a characteristically thin volume profile very stretched out. Those are what we call trend days One side gets in control and they just dominate as a breakout trader. I live for those days I really don't like trading chop or consolidation patterns I uh and much I feel like my my performance is a lot better when I wait patiently for Breakouts from consolidation the way that I look at it is Every market no matter what it is is either in one of two states. It's in a state of rest or a state of motion I do everything I can to try to make sure I'm only trading a market in motion because you get these really nice rotations These really outsize moves That's where the true money is made as a trader in my opinion I don't do as well fading the edges and playing chop. It's just not my personal thing I get chopped up and I feel like I end up donating way too much to my broker, which I'm sure they're pleased about But for me, I I wait for breakouts and carrot sticking has been a good way Uh for me to I guess the best way that I utilize this is the confidence to continue holding A lot of times you can sort of be tricked when it comes to Resting liquidity that's currently there on the book thinking. Okay We took like say this is a little after lunch on this particular session You saw this large limit order up here. You had a very interested seller up here coming in with size We can see that from the dark red, but not much really comparatively above them You know a little bit of orders up here, but often what happens I think is a trader would view this scenario saying, okay, the trend is up so far We're having a trend day the market's well bid. This must be the top this large order up here at 40 130 that must be it right? So I'll set a sell order if I'm long and you know, there's nothing else on the book So that's probably the end of the trend day The observing the carrot sticking phenomenon is almost like the market saying no, we there's a little bit more for you We got more we got more it's sort of leading somebody with that carrot on the stick thing Do I fully understand the mechanics of what's happening here? From an hft perspective or from an institutional perspective. No, I'll admit I don't know why this happens or why they do it what I do know is that I can recognize it And to me it it almost adds more validity to the current trend day to say to give you the confidence to say Hang on hang on for a little bit longer because if they keep carrot sticking this They're what they're telling us is they want this somebody wants this market higher somebody's very interested in buying And the same works in the opposite direction. This is a bullish example But you can see it on trend days down where the market's selling off Sometimes you get fooled by resting liquidity thinking well that must be the bottom There's a giant order down there. Well, if they fill that giant order And then put something on the offer in this particular scenario of comparable size You know 10 points above 10 points is actually the most common that I see They do it the larger players. They're not that creative typically with some of these orders They usually work in multiples of fives and tens So if you see an immediate order That's corresponds to the filling of this one show up. That's what I refer to as carrot sticking It gives me a little confidence to say I should probably stay in this position The worst thing you can do on a trend day is get out too early Because we wait as breakout traders you wait a really long time For that opportunity to trade a breakout under the under the assumption that it is going to be An outsized move or an outlier move something that would surpass what we would normally see quote-unquote through measures of standard deviation Whatever measure you want to use to gauge normality The reason why you like a trend day is because it breaks all those rules and it just goes the market goes bananas Well, the worst thing you can do is get out because then you you're wondering well When do I get back in? So I look for carrot sticking again I know it's sort of a cheesy way of looking at it, but I I don't think there's any software that's Makes it easier to see than book map Especially because it is almost always instantaneous you get the big fill and then you get another offer 10 points above So it's just one particular phenomena that I really appreciate in my trading and your software It sort of gives you the confidence to hold a lot of times And this this is not a good example of it because you don't see it But a lot of times you see the carrot sticking you get above and you get a pullback back to this initial breakout That also is a potential decent entry for a long Especially you see the buyers defend because it's likely the next Layer of carrot stick liquidity is going to be filled as well So you can do the retest which is I know very common and often Probably one of the safest ways to play breakouts But it's just something that I look for that I wanted to share with everybody again. I apologize if it's not a very scientific term or if the appropriate financial term here But it's what I made up to recognize when I see this when I see a large when it looks like there's nothing else left on the book I'm immediately looking for what happens when it gets filled and if they put something else then we're probably not done There's there's more to go The other way it's sort of I didn't make a slide for it But it's a similar phenomena and I've written articles for our members in the past about looking for it is Uh, something that we refer to is is the hand of god It's sort of a similar thing when there appears to be nothing on the book, right? And the most useful way to recognize it. I think is in a sell-off There appears to be nothing of size the market's selling off and then you see one of these large orders step in At sort of the bottom and price immediately runs from it. It has that repelling effect Instead of the gravitational effect That is another very powerful intraday clue that's very similar to this concept of carrot sticking But it's almost like it's in reverse At the mark some large order comes in to sort of cradle price in a sell-off I jokingly refer to that as the hand of god like it's coming in to sort of put an end to the bloodshed and And sort of cradle the market. That's something to look for as well. Does it always work? No But as traders it should get our attention that somebody very large is interested in buying Emits this sell-off and what's I think most important to pay attention to Isn't really so much the order itself in terms of quantity or what level it was placed at To me what's more interesting is to observe. How does price immediately react when it appears If it immediately runs from it That's a valid hand of god play that might likely be the lows for the day And you could have an opportunity to catch a falling knife with a little bit of Uh probability on your side Now if the hand of god shows up and they they put that order in there and the sellers slam right into it taking it out Well, that's that's not the lows for the day. There's likely more damage to be done That's not a hand of god. So what i'm trying to Emphasize with all these corny terms that i've made up to people is watching the reaction to price is actually more important than The quantity or the level or even like there's no point mentally getting your brain thinking about well Why would somebody want to buy here? Why does somebody want to sell there? Truthfully, I don't care. I don't care what the large players are doing What I care is how does price respond to it because then I might be able to glean some sort of directional clue And and lean my trading into that particular side to try to Follow the likely reaction. So that's carrot sticking or hand of god corny terms The last one i'll throw out here is something very similar Apologies, this is not a book map screenshot, but I couldn't find a good one in time because this was sort of last minute Um, so I threw I took a screenshot from one of my videos instructional videos this setup I referred to as the tell it's sort of very similar To the carrot sticking but it usually breaks that that you know the the typical rules because in this particular scenario It's the exact same quantity So it's very rare To see however, it's very powerful when you see it not every day do very large Institutional players tip their hands to retail But when they do it's information that I really care about in terms of guiding my trading decisions So what is the the quote the tell? Um, this is when you have one of these very large orders that we just talked about again Imagine if this is book map. This is actually a screenshot from my sierra, but Apologies, I couldn't find the book map one, but you can see it and I actually think you see it better in book map A very large order is filled And immediately an order of the exact same corresponding size and this part is important It has to be the same quantity. That's the only way I feel like as retail. We know that it's the same individual Um, if you see that that's to me a larger player tipping their hand of what the initial trade might have been So in a scenario like this, I don't always know if somebody has 1193 lots for sale. I don't know what that is that they're trying to do. Are they closing along? Or are they initiating a short when you see the tell which is the exact same quantity We can use some basic assumptions and probabilities and logic to assume that it's likely a short sale They are now interested in buying that back 10 points below Again, to me this only works if it's the same quantity. Otherwise I it could be a different participant I don't know who it is. So I look for does it immediately show up somewhere else and is it the same quantity I call that the tell like in poker when somebody has a tell they they sort of tip their hand to you And you sort of call their bluff like okay that the odds are that was probably a short sale They want that filled lower now and they're not for whatever reason hiding that information This would be a circumstance where I would be much more comfortable and prone to lean into the market short Because this person is moving size that I'm not right. My puny orders are insignificant Uh, almost 1200 Lots and yes, that's significant. That's a that's a large order. Somebody is very meaningfully trying to transact The odds are they're going to get their way More than retail does so I'm more prone to join This particular player's position here as it's likely the market is going to come down and eventually fill them The hard part with the tell is it could take some time Because when you're trading this kind of size, they are working on different time frames often than we are and they're probably not As interested in tick by tick, but they're pretty darn confident that this is going to get filled down here So make me prone to short the market So kind of similar to the last slide that we were talking about Even though this is sierra, I actually think book map is a much better way to visualize that activity Because you can see the immediate c of it one thing that I do like I do think it's I probably shouldn't say this on a book map webinar, but I do usually confirm in sierra to see the matching quantity That is one thing that I think that you know with the quantity written right there in the bar I can see like oh, that's probably the same person for book map you can too But I have to zoom in a little bit and do a little count, which is fine But that's just another trade setup that I thought I would throw out there because it's rare to see but it's incredibly powerful And as intraday traders sometimes, you know 10 points People might scoff at that but that can make your entire day or tire week Depending on how you position for that Especially if the market is already at a naturally Attractive risk reward place, you know Like if you're at the lows or you're at the highs or a key technical resistance level or something like that If I see the tell show up in a position where I would have been interested in shorting anyways What that means for me is I would probably increase size and and be more confident in that trade because in this particular case I believe that it's likely i'm following somebody A lot larger than me that probably knows something that I don't know So that's the fourth setup here and that's really that's really all the slides that I had Bruce I didn't I didn't want it things to be too Uh slide heavy because I was hoping just for more of a conversation or if people had had questions or comments These are the the four primary ways that I utilize your software in my trading again Like I said, I'm not really a traditional scalper. I'm not looking tick for tick I'm looking for more rotational trading trying to catch moves that are You know 10 points or more from breakouts That's what I Basically target and how I trade so maybe a little bit different. I've seen some folks in in your group doing some incredible stuff on a very Uh my new level and intricate level that absolutely fascinates me and I'm always learning more about that even though it's not Personally how I trade the market Um, I think there's a lot of powerful stuff that comes from your software and the way people use it So that's what I had questions comments. I know I talked quite a bit there No, uh, there was a question on the Carrot sticking versus a book flip And uh, I don't know if you wanted to mention more or something about that You know, I'm gonna be completely honest. I don't I don't know what a book flip means So could could the whoever asked the question could they explain that to me Oh, um, I I can explain it. Um, the it's basically um, uh, typically in a trend and It's actually a disruptive practice that's prohibited from cme rule 575 Uh, in fact, I'll I'll send you a link to that PDF where are we talking about spoofing? Is that what they're asking about a book flip is a bit different? It's basically let's say, um, uh, that there's high liquidity on the offer and A price starts to charge up toward it uh Last second or the just the the prohibitive practice is the last second they pulled out liquidity But price glides right through it And then what was on the offer there is now flipped to the bid Basically, it's at the same level Yeah, so my my retail mind always views that as as spoofing I guess but now I learned something today It's actually called something different Which you know, some several people on twitter said what can you talk about spoofing and um, You know, I think it's an interesting question. I just don't think it's as rare I don't think it's as common as people think it is personally um And that was part of the reason why I led with what I I led with is distinguishing between Session orders and the ones that truly stay on the book. I know a lot of folks struggle with Large trading large resting liquidity because they ask themselves the question. Well, what if they pull it? What if we get close and they pull it or we start going that way? That's always definitely a risk. I think the risk is a little bit mitigated the longer it stays on the book I think that gives it validity if somebody's been sitting there for three days. That's not spoofing. They're they're very unlikely to pull That's a legitimate fill Um, you know, the spoofing stuff that I look for is the very large quantity usually over a thousand lots intraday that are rapidly rapidly placing and pulling And getting priced to to do various things in response to that run away or run towards that that would be more spoofing to me So now I have a new thing to research and understand the book flip because that's a term that's uh unfamiliar to me So I appreciate I I apologize to the asker that I don't have an answer for you But I do have uh something new to learn about so thank you for asking the question Yeah, no, um, in fact, I put the the um a link in there for everybody uh cme rule 5 75 in both uh discord and youtube I really I I really highly recommend that you guys take a look at it. Um, it there's no visuals in there Uh, but this is all about order flow. Uh, most most of the things in there are about order flow And it's incredible. It just gives you a blueprint to like, oh, this is like the disruptive practices And this is what's illegal and this is what you know book map captures it very very nicely. Uh, so uh, you can um We can cover it in in webinars and and I can demo it to people as well, but like, uh, it it's um You know, it's like the playbook and like uh, so it's uh, it's a great way to learn about um, Some of these things as well, uh, is my main point Yeah, and I'm excited to learn so I really appreciate them saying that I think that's part of that's also why I wanted to distinguish early in your In your event here that the first slide said pro trader and I'm like, uh, wait a minute. I'm not a pro trader I'm a retail guy that has figured out a few things that work for me in terms of helping guide risk and decision making intraday And uh, sometimes I feel like one of those like, uh, one of those folks that has like no formal music theory experience But somehow ends up, you know in the symphony or something like that I feel very much that way like I don't necessarily understand always what they are doing And that that's the most common questions that people ask is well, why are they doing this? Or why would somebody place an order structure like that or a type like that? And I to me my I found the best policies just to be honest and say, you know what? I don't know But I do know from from hours and hours and hours and days of careful observation I know what's likely to happen Because of that. I don't know why they're doing it, right? So it's sort of a strange thing where there's always more to learn in terms of The educational foundation that I'm trying to build because I think obviously these things become more powerful when we truly Truly do understand the mechanics And so there's always more to learn in that sense There's a lot of things like this one that I've learned to recognize and help my trading and help trend day trading Even though I don't quite understand what what it is that they're they're trying to accomplish I don't have to in order to be able to recognize patterns, which this is one of the things I think People should really consider As a strong advantage for something like book map is the human brain is wired for pattern recognition It's something that we unconsciously do and I think when you have a software this visual It it plays to that really well our brains trying to make sense out of patterns All the time especially as traders they they monetize that that aspect and that's where I think the power comes into the visualization Not just looking at to like a level two or something like that I think it's a lot better in my my opinion Visualizing the order book like this to look for things that take you know You can take notes and say okay when I see this this is typically how the market reacts That's how I've incorporated and learned this stuff for myself is was just meticulous note taking like well What what happens when they do this? What is the reaction? And I being totally honest really didn't spend a lot of time trying to figure out why The why is as to why they're doing it most of my study has been the what's what happens When I do see it when I do see this behavior In large activity order activity. So apologies to let your your Your question ask her down that I don't have a better answer, but I appreciate you giving me another worm or hold a study Yeah, no problem. We're good at that No, it's um some of the the the things that you've Developed here and and study and and have come up with Are our expert readings on The liquidity and and and context of order flow here and and I use we use that word all the time It's about the context and and you um we're very articulate in Uh describing that Because that's truly what matters. Uh, it's not so much like You know, um, well did it go to that liquidity and did they poll or whatever? No, it's like The reaction to that liquidity is what is important? Um, or you know, whatever the phenomenon might be Uh, if it was um high liquidity like in this example with the carrot sticking Um, and they're still going after it Well, this is pretty good insight that that's where they want to go. Um, is is to that liquidity Uh, and and it's kind of telling you. I mean, um Uh, and I mean we see this also a lot more in stocks Where they that the advertising comes in at 9 30 a.m. And you just see these bands of liquidity. No, we're here. We're here. We're here On the offer on the bid wherever. Uh, and um, uh, you know, these are these are nice, uh targets to to go to So, um, it's really great to hear uh about that context that you're talking about The reaction to that liquidity That's a that's a great point. I'm glad you mentioned that one of the other things that I had put in some of the content that I've shared and just how I have as a retail have learned to utilize this is that window I think that you just highlighted one of the most powerful windows that I watch is right before the market opens Sometimes that's where you get the best clues from larger participants. Uh, and truthfully, I don't really look at it in stock So that's interesting to hear from you, but I know at least in es especially in event driven days That can be very very powerful to see in that window from sort of 8 o'clock to 9 30 eastern time where I'm at Oftentimes you see some of these large session orders like this this big orange band here Show up prior to the market open that can get your attention to say, okay Somebody's legitimately interested in transacting up there. We are currently 50 points below that They probably know something that I don't know I Want to take that into consideration before I place any trade today Maybe I'm coming into the session feeling bearish and right at the open Or sometimes slightly before it you see someone tip their hand and price is generally going to gravitate towards liquidity Especially when there isn't any the other thing that I didn't put in here Which I probably should have is I I think book map is the most powerful tool for Event driven trading like f o m c days nowadays cpi. I mean nobody used to care about cpi, but nowadays that's an event Uh, so on those particular days, especially there's this beautiful phenomena where right before the data release You see the natural liquidity providing algorithms that follow es by about plus or minus two and a half points You see those shut off right in anticipation of The event where book map comes in handy is Actually, it's not just the the the algorithmic Liquidity providing algos that shut off a lot of times Surrounding larger orders will disappear as well That's one of I think the most valuable times for book map is to see well, what stayed on the book, right? They're anticipating a very violent move for f o m c Those orders that stayed on that are plus 500 in quantity on es for example That didn't get pulled minutes before the event. Sometimes those are an incredible directional clue That somebody legitimately wanted to fill and when the market has No liquidity when you don't have the natural liquidity maker-taker providing algorithms It is very likely to scramble to find large liquidity very quickly right after the announcement So I've also used book map for event driven trading. I mean stuff like that to me Obviously have to size. Well, I shouldn't say that I size way down Because those are incredibly volatile moves and people are likely to get hurt But if you have a legitimate clue from a larger participant that hey, they didn't pull from the book They do want to get filled 50 points lower You know on cpi or something like that there there's again You're tipping the probabilities in your favor that a short is probably the better play because the market's going to immediately Scramble for liquidity because it doesn't have what it normally has the liquidity providing algorithm So there's so many different ways to utilize this technology in your software that I'm constantly adding. I look at them as sort of like tools in the toolbox You know, they're just they're things that you don't see every day But when you see it you sort of recognize like oh, I remember when this happens This is the most likely scenario That's what I want my brain to recall not hard and fast rules, but most likely You know turns of events or something like that. That's what I'm always thinking in terms of and It's an endless way to learn just picking up new things that I see There's even a recent one for book map that we have observed this year that I had not seen in the past And we're still trying to make sense of what it means We started calling it the the death cloud because we didn't really know what else to call it But it was a really strange order structure Where you have just it not your typical like large order sitting at a price, but you had tons of them Stacked in atypical quantities that the market would run from just violently run away from And it was an order structure that I had never seen before and I've been trading for many years I'd never seen anything like that until this year And so there's things like that that I don't have enough data points to to make a Strong conclusion yet on how does the market normally react to this? But I can tell you I'm actively taking notes and every time I see it I'm observing the behavior to be able to create something that I think is uh a tradable signal So not every unusual thing I observe is immediately tradable Sometimes you have to see it several times before you have an idea of okay This is what the market typically does when you see this strange order activity So the fun is endless and I can't thank you enough for inviting Me here to share a little bit about how I use it and again apologies if it's a little higher level than A lot of your folks But it's just what helps guide my intraday trading as a breakout trader No, thanks. Thanks horse. Um, no, I we have a couple more questions if you have time Yeah, and uh, uh, I also wanted to mention a few things that really kind of caught my attention Uh, number one, uh, did I show you the trader map pro filtering that you can do with the mbo data? You did when you when you stopped over in our discord You were showing us that which I think is really cool and something that I'm going to be playing around with As well just to get a better look at that because I think it does speak to obviously if you listen to What I just shared I think it speaks to how I trade. I'm really interested in the large orders Rather than the super granular tick for tick. So I think that's going to be huge for me Yeah, I mean it would just filter out a lot of the other, um smaller You know orders that you really don't look at anyway Exactly. Yeah. Yeah Um, so that's good The stops in icebergs, I know you've looked at that. Um, and then the the liquidity marker, uh, You know, we can we have something that will show the amount of Uh, the actual limit orders on the on the heat map as well with a with a tag So maybe that's something I'll have to reach out to you and and show you it's it's really simple straightforward, but uh, oh to make that to To make it easier to see the the exact quantities that we're saying tell. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that would be super powerful I mean the way that I set up on my monitors I it's usually pretty easy to confirm just using both my execution software and having bookmark on a book map on a separate screen But that would make it even easier if uh, if there was some sort of labeling there just like especially I'm assuming there's a filter Like a cutoff. I only want to see above this many lots. Is that possible? Um, yeah, there's there's some filters on it. Um, so I'll I'll share you the information uh after the webinar here Uh, I wanted to get to a couple questions here. Um about your vertical and horizontal scaling. Uh, there's a question on Um, you know the time frame that you're you're trading is longer term Uh, so what what kind of range are you usually looking at? Um, and You know a lot of people are really kind of zoomed in looking at Um, you know very small time structures and then zooming out quickly, but you you seem to be Um, kind of zoomed out more Yeah That's a great great question for me where I typically have the zoom level Um, I look at the extensions of the opening range up to four extensions in either direction That like within that I consider sort of the days or sessions playing field where price is Where it's possible or I guess I that's not a good way of saying it Statistically likely we're gonna stay within that sandbox so to speak. So for example, um, the what I mean by extension If you take the opening range from the highs to the lows and cut that in half Um, each one of those half increments above the opening range high would be an extension And then you can do the same thing to the downside So like for today my bookmap granularity would range from 39 10 Pretty much down to 38 44 Those are take that's taking do it into account what I would consider The expected volatility within a given trading session for regular trading hours Now today is is an example where we breached that we went beyond the fourth extension. That's very rare That's extended to the upside in my experience. You don't you don't really see that a whole lot. You're sort of in uh Statistical no man's land if you will but that's typically how that's how I'd answer that question I'm really mostly interested in the order activity within those four extensions to the highs and to the lows Because it's rare that we trade outside of those the sandbox for the day is usually inside of those The exception would be event driven days and it's definitely happened where you've seen Somebody place a thousand lot order a hundred points below bid offer and immediately think like they're okay I'm just gonna ignore that. There's there's that's ridiculously far away But you have to again like you said context is everything on an fomsc day. That's not very far away Right so but on a normal trading day where I don't expect Some sort of unforeseen volatility I use the Opening range extensions with if people are interested there I put out an indicator for free on trading view if you just search for michigan dolfs 30 minute opening range. There's a version with the extensions That just kind of helps me gauge the screen like how zoomed in do I want to be is a great question For me in the way that I use book map. I'm not using it super granular for the most part except for to see reactions I will zoom in if we're if we're nearing You know a 500 to a thousand lot order I will zoom in in that moment to see what does price do. Are they running away? Uh, if it gets carrot-sticked, are they immediately, you know, like jumping towards the new price? So I I want to see the granular in in a moment where I would expect there to be a reaction But from a day to day basis like if I'm just firing up my computer to day trade I'll have it set basically to where the extensions are for the day Hopefully that answers the the person's question. Yeah, and Just it's an excellent question. Um, and it also just shows the statistical nature of and probability studies of your trading patterns, um, so but and and just to Clarify though the opening range you're looking at is 30 minutes Correct for yes. I use 30 minutes. Yeah, I think there's better gauges for other products and q The five minute is great for nq But most of what I've done has been around 30 minutes for yes, and that is nothing I don't want to take credit. It's nothing. I came up with that's an old pit strategy that and everyone Basically needs some way to tell who's in control for the session buyers or sellers It's the the best way that I've learned to gauge that for myself is that first 30 minutes going to be very volatile It's going to be quite the battle typically But within those first 30 minutes of that a period I usually have a decent idea based on the opening range and looking at things like delta by price, which is aggression From one particular side of the other that kind of gives you a pretty strong foundation for the session of who's going to be the dominant party Um, so yeah, that's why I use it. But again, I know people that use the initial balance You know, there's different time frames. Whatever works for you. I think it is what matters But most of my statistical backtesting has been on the 30 minute Okay, excellent just One more question but a note as well to people Out there that are swing trading or or day trading on higher time frames You can see how horse is using book map very differently in that regard Or he's using it with with those kinds of Trading strategies. So it it's not just a scalping tool That a lot of traders use it for you can use it on many different time frames here So some some really nice high liquidity strategies here so Let's see james is asking about your How you measure the probabilities of your carrot sticking Or have you measured? probabilities of observing carrot sticking during trending days Does it happen 50 75 percent less than 50 percent, etc During these trending event driven days That's a that's a great question and I Will be honest and say no, I don't I don't have data behind that It's more of like a behavior Characteristic that I'm conscious of like the question is basically binary. Are they carrot sticking or not? Because there's times where you'll see at the highs they'll they'll shove into Into liquidity, but there's no corresponding order that shows up above So if we jump back to this there's times where they could like shove into this But you don't see the 10-point carrot stick That is typically a good measure of like, all right Maybe the move is actually done You're going to get a little excess to the to the upside probably Pass that liquidity and then buyers run out of steam and you get a pullback So I'm sort of looking at it to answer James's question at this stage of my understanding more binary Are they doing it or not? Right and that's mostly what I'm interested like if they're carrot sticking and they keep leading price up this way Then I'm still on a bullish trend I'm still going to be looking to buy retests of key levels or or take breakouts because the probabilities are in my favor But no, I haven't started to quantify how often they do it. It's a great question And it's probably something I should actually look at In addition to one of the other things I thought about is like well, how many how many Times do they do it typically right like how many times do they care stick is three usually the most you see You know, there's different things that it would be interesting to go back and look at the data to start Formulating some more quantitative strategies here to know what's likely to happen But I don't have the answers to any of those questions as of right now. This is something that You know, I really just started to observe within the last year and we wrote a little piece talking about this as More of a ways not so much to gauge entries, but just to confirm the the directional bias for the session Well, yeah, excellent excellent um Just maybe one more question then we'll end it here Uh, does the uh, do you look at options or order flow and expected moves? Um, so to keep it book map specific Yeah, I mean, yeah, obviously we we look at options within trader A There's several of us that take some time analyzing some of that information mainly to understand the environment that we're in from a gamma perspective But in terms of within book map one of the things that I am currently studying and actively taking notes on to try to get us to to make a trade into a statistical trade Which is always what i'm seeking to do. Do I know that there's a setup that where the probability is in my favor? Do I have an edge? That's what we're looking for when it comes to new plays and setups one of those is utilizing the hero indicator Um, which is related. I mean, it's it's options. It's it's a different way of viewing it obviously, but for me Watching that within book map has been uh, very very fascinating when it's at its extremes And so for me so far i'm quantifying extremes on es as plus or minus 200 000 right now readings within hero Um, because I do think that sort of I think there's something there Um, just based on visual observation We're just starting to figure out how to get some of the numbers to be able to make it into something a little bit more quantitative and by that I mean So a day that you're over 200 000 on the hero It's likely the sellers are going to remain in control and it's going to be hard for the bulls to to cause a meaningful reversal The same can be said in the opposite direction if you're you know negative 200 000 or more on the hero reader It's unlikely that you know the the bears are going to regain control for that session But what I'm interested in in terms of options activity is what does it mean for the following session? That's some of the stuff we're trying to use the hero data to Understand if there's any meaningful statistical relations there one of the early things that we've observed That's very interesting is if you have a day with a very very extreme hero reading it tends to produce Um, sort of the the opposite effect in the globex Uh trading session So don't quote me on that because our data set is not finalized. We're just starting to get into that But say for example, you know, the the market goes Plus 200 000 reading in hero, which is a pretty big reading Uh you so far the market Typically seems to have a bid in the globex session that corresponds with that And um, you know, I don't know it's it's likely due to dealer positioning and forced hedging and things of that nature But I think there's some reliable trade setups there for retail I just don't have the data analysis finished because it's something that brews you actually turned me on to Earlier this year, so I don't have a lot of a big data set behind it yet But I have found in terms of options activity There is some really interesting stuff happening with that indicator that I as a somebody that prefers Shorter duration swing trades. I'd like to be able to Understand that from a probabilities perspective and translate it into a a decent risk reward trade I'm just still studying it. So that would be my answer in terms of options activity Yes, we do look at flow for individual names and things of that nature for trader aid as a whole But in terms of tying it back to book map I am fascinated by the hero indicator and what it means for the market the next day and for the globex session For the current day, the only thing I can say with confidence is once that number gets to an extreme level Which so far to me, I think I would measure those plus or minus 200 000 You're unlikely to see pretty serious reversals to the other direction just can be helpful information as a trader You know not to try to fade or push against. I mean today's a decent example I haven't looked at hero in a while But this is a relentless uptrend and you know, like I wouldn't be surprised if we had a really deeply negative hero number right now on book map if I pulled mine up. So That would be my answer. I'm sorry. It's a little incomplete at this point But I I'm excited to see if there's anything there that can be quantified and turned into a strategy Okay, excellent. Well, well, thank you horse. Thank you so much. Great webinar Love to have you back for much more and lots of insights here And yeah Answered all the questions here for everybody. This is recorded. It will be on youtube So you can go there And Any final words? No, I just can't thank you enough for having me here, especially as a retail guy With lots to learn, you know, I don't claim to be an expert But I do think your your software has improved my trading and I'm happy to talk about that even if it's A little bit more of a simplistic way of using it compared to the intense granularity I think that the takeaway here that hopefully some of your your listeners could be inspired by is that there are Valid ways to to utilize this information for people that have longer time frames I'm excited to learn more personally about the granular stuff Even though I'm not a traditional scalper and a lot of your community Probably has answers to a lot of my why questions that I'd be curious about why people do this But I think for retail, it's important to start with the what you know What happened and what did the market do and then explore the why? And I think I'm at a state where I I will have some good questions for you guys And some of your book map traders that probably understand the why is between some of these moves So it's exciting. I like talking about this stuff and I appreciate you inviting me here And thanks everybody if you're interested in what we do feel free to check us out over on trader aid Where we try to blend the macro fundamentals and and technicals for the day traders and Book map is absolutely one of our favorite pieces of software to help guide everyone's trading Whether we run very short time frames or longer ones So it's powerful stuff you guys have built and happy to be here and thanks for all the great questions And hopefully to see everybody around either the discord or on twitter Excellent. Thank you so much for us. Thanks a lot bruce. See you guys. Bye