The essentials
- Heatmap bands show captured resting liquidity; dots show executions.
- Contrast and filtering change the picture, not the underlying market.
- Historical candles cannot reconstruct missing order-book history.
What the colors and dots represent
The main distinction is between liquidity history and transaction history. A horizontal band represents displayed quantity at a price across captured samples. A dot represents an execution or a configured cluster of executions. A bright band is not itself traded volume, and a large dot is not proof that one participant created it.
Bookmap’s heatmap documentation likewise separates historical liquidity from executed-volume dots. The terminology is useful across platforms, but color scales, aggregation and data coverage differ. Compare the measurement and settings, not only the appearance of two screenshots.
Reference: Bookmap documentation: heatmap and executed volume ↗
Read the sequence around a level
Begin before the price arrives. Was the liquidity band already present, or did it appear as the market approached? Then compare executions at that area and the distance price traveled. Finally, check whether displayed quantity remained afterward. This sequence is more informative than selecting the brightest pixel after a reversal.
Persistence does not prove intent. Multiple participants can replace liquidity at the same price, and a sampled feed can omit short-lived changes. A disappearing band is not automatically evidence of spoofing; that conclusion would require information about behavior and intent that a visual snapshot cannot provide.
Configure Heatmap in EdgeX
Open Heatmap from the chart toolbar. In Heatmap settings, choose a color map and adjust contrast, intensity, cutoffs and brightness. Use execution controls for dot size, clustering, volume filters and opacity. Start with a readable display and change one setting at a time so you can tell what changed.
Plugins is a separate control beside Heatmap settings. It enables Order Flow detectors and their thresholds. Making the heatmap brighter does not make a detector more sensitive; changing a minimum-volume threshold does not change the color map. This separation lets you improve readability without silently altering the analysis rules.
- Use price-scale drag or scroll to adjust the visible range; double-click resets it.
- Use time zoom or pan to inspect the captured interval.
- Compare Depth, Volume, Delta or Time & sales in the attached data column.
- Choose a bottom volume or delta study only when its inputs are available.
History coverage matters more than a full-looking screen
EdgeX heatmap history depends on recorded depth for the instrument. A request for several days of candles cannot recreate old resting orders. If capture began recently, the available liquidity history may be short even when the price chart extends much farther back. Label that limitation in your notes.
Heatmap VWAP in EdgeX uses execution-volume weighting over the visible interval and resets at detected feed gaps. It is not automatically a complete session VWAP. When comparing it with a profile or another platform, align the interval and input coverage before attributing differences to market behavior.
A practical heatmap review routine
Choose one area from the broader chart, then observe it with the heatmap and DOM side by side. Record the contract, time range, visual filters and detector settings. Keep examples where price moves through the area as well as those where it turns. A method built only from successful-looking examples will overstate what the display can tell you.
EdgeX is useful here because the chart, depth ladder and captured liquidity history can share a workspace and aligned price levels. Save a layout that keeps the comparison legible. Stop pauses the heatmap view; it does not cancel working orders or disconnect the provider, so analysis controls must remain distinct from trading controls.
Common questions
Does a bright heatmap band mean price will reverse?
No. It shows relatively prominent displayed liquidity under the selected visual settings. Price may trade through it, and the quantity may change.
Why is my heatmap history shorter than my candle history?
Candles and order-book depth are separate datasets. EdgeX can only show liquidity history that was recorded and made available for the selected instrument.
Continue with the EdgeX product guides
These guides document the controls and data behavior used in this article.
Published by EdgeX Terminal, operated by EdgeProp Trading S.R.L. Product explanations are based on the EdgeX Help Center; external references are linked beside the relevant discussion. Examples are illustrative, not actual trading results. Futures trading involves risk; this material is education, not an individual trading recommendation.
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