MBO Price Map: the order book, order by order

The MBO Price Map draws the order book on the right side of the chart, lined up with the price axis. Each row is one price. With order-by-order (MBO) data, each row is split into the individual resting orders at that price, in queue order.

MBO means market by order. A normal Level 2 book tells you the total size at each price. An MBO book tells you each order that makes up that total. One order of 50 lots and fifty orders of 1 lot look the same in Level 2. They look different in the map.

Turn the map on or off with DOM in the MORE list on the toolbar. MAP, also in MORE, opens the map window: the fast-market mode, which badges are shown and the STALE header tag.

Layout

• The map is anchored to the right edge of the chart. It is up to 620 px wide and never more than 55% of the chart width.
• It shows 60 price levels on each side of the market by default.
• Asks (sellers) are red. Bids (buyers) are blue.
• The best bid and best ask are outlined.

The header

The header line at the top of the map tells you where the data comes from and how good it is. It reads like AK MBO MAP NT8 | NATIVE_MBO/MBO_HEALTHY | ELIG=1 | age=12ms. The text is green when ELIG=1 and grey otherwise.

The stats line below it reads like ORD=812 LVL=58/2 Q=Q3_MBO_EXACT PAR=0.98 IMB=+0.12 DROP=0. In order: the number of resting orders, the price levels with order detail and with Level 2 totals only, the data quality class, how well the order detail matches the Level 2 totals (1.00 is a perfect match), the bid versus ask balance of resting size (positive means more on the bid), and the number of dropped updates.

Rows and order segments

With MBO data, each row is split into segments. Each segment is one resting order, in the order it sits in the queue.

• Each segment can carry a label such as V40 C3: an order of 40 lots that is third in the queue at its price. Narrow segments show the size only.
• Queue rank shows where an order sits in the line at its price. Orders at the front of the queue fill first.
• The total at each price is printed with a Σ in front, for example Σ123.
• Size classes: orders of 20 lots or more are drawn as large, and orders of 50 lots or more as extreme, so they stand out.
• Iceberg and reload accent: orders that reload after trading are outlined in gold. See Icebergs.
• A row shows up to 24 individual orders.

How to read it: one thick order is one participant with size. Many small orders are crowd liquidity. Both can pull before price arrives, so watch what happens when price gets there.

Context tags

The map writes level names next to the rows they belong to, so you can see which level sits at which price in the book. Tags cover VWAPs and their ±σ bands, POC, VAH and VAL, HVN and LVN, previous and naked levels, day, week and month highs and lows, and the initial balance. A row shows up to 4 tags.

Several tags at one price are joined with /, for example D.POC/W.VW.

Badges

Badges are short codes to the left of the map that report what the book is doing right now. Each badge has a thin line to its price. The map shows up to 16 at a time, and none while the header shows STALE.

• A green badge is on the buy side. An orange-red badge is on the sell side.
• The number after the code is a strength score from 0 to 100, for example ICE 92. For B2 the number is the order size in lots.
• ICE, WB, WA and B2 point at their own price. The other badges point at the best bid (buy side) or the best ask (sell side).
• Most badges describe the last few seconds of order book activity, so they come and go quickly.

Badges describe what the book did. They are not instructions.

Data states

See Troubleshooting for more.

The ladder panel

AK FlowBook also includes an order book ladder panel (the MBO FlowBook ladder, settings group 04). By default, the MBO Price Map replaces it.

Settings

Education only. Not financial advice. Trading futures and CFDs carries a high risk of loss.