Back to catalogue
Liquidity & depth

Liquidity Heatmap

Heatmap of resting liquidity in the book

Liquidity Heatmap captures market depth (DOM) and draws it as a colour intensity map over time — unlike the other studies it does not analyse executed trades, but the order book itself. Since exchanges, direct feeds, and DOM do not provide historical depth ("Level 2 has no memory"), the study records streaming depth to disk in a compact binary format. When you open the chart or run MotiveWave's Replay mode, this history is loaded from the file and replayed. This preserves the full limit order history during the day, showing where liquidity rested and what happened, enabling full-depth backtesting and replay.

Data requirementLive market depth (Level 2 / DOM)

Needs a feed with live depth (Level 2 / DOM). Most live futures feeds have it; historical datasets usually do not. Full depth grows on disk — expect tens of MB per instrument per active day.

Monthly access
$21/mo

Standalone subscription for a single study. Cancel anytime.

Cheaper in a bundle →
Free updates for the subscription Implementation guide for MotiveWave Setup video tutorials

What it does

  • Resting-liquidity heatmap (time × price)
  • Big-player filter (min resting size) + wall highlight
  • Records depth to disk + loads history (fully compatible with Replay / backtest in full depth)
  • Adjustable contrast, brightness scale and opacity
  • Live current-book column on the right edge
  • Bid / ask side separately + colour scale
  • Archive retention (days) + diagnostics log

How to read it

01

Absorption (real wall) — a bright zone holds on touch, price cannot pass. Confirm with CVD divergence.

02

Spoofing (fake wall) — the wall vanishes just before the touch, price passes with no volume. The live column shows it instantly.

03

Iceberg (hidden refilling) — small visible size that keeps refreshing. Not confirmable from the heatmap alone — combine with Iceberg Detector.

Specs

Type
Overlay panel
Data
Level 2 / DOM
Market
Futures, Crypto
History
Recorded forward