Compared
Basis and Swiftedge: two free order book heatmaps
Basis is a free browser trading terminal, and its liquidity heatmap needs no account, no trial and no card. Swiftedge Depth is free with no account too: the live Bitcoin, gold, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, US 500, US 100, silver and WTI crude oil perpetual futures order book as a heatmap, every trade as a bubble, a footprint chart and up to 15 days of history the moment it opens. The biggest difference is how far back the heatmap goes.
What Basis offers
From Basis's own pages, checked on 8 November 2026 (free liquidity heatmap, basischarts.com) and on 2 November 2026 (free order flow chart):
- Free liquidity heatmap. It samples one exchange's synchronized order book once a second and keeps up to 15 minutes of recorded depth while the Order Flow panel is open. Basis calls it live session recording, not a 24/7 server archive, so the picture starts when you open the panel. Views of fit, 1, 5 and 15 minutes, trade bubbles, a price trace, a volume profile of the visible window, cumulative delta and markers for sweeps and changes in liquidity. 97 coins.
- Gold. A free heatmap of two tokenized-gold order books, PAXG and XAUT, with a depth of market ladder and the tape.
- The rest of the free terminal. Footprint ladders on one exchange's spot and perpetual markets, a live order book (DOM) beside the tape, cumulative delta, funding, open interest, liquidations, options analytics, a screener, backtesting, alerts and 200 indicators, at $0 with no sign-up.
- AI and embedding. A free embeddable heatmap widget with Basis branding, and connectors that let ChatGPT and Claude read its live data, on the free plan too.
- Paid. Basis Founders is $15 for 30 days with no automatic renewal, or $50 once for lifetime access. It adds AI-built indicators and backtests, screened whale positions and 350+ stock, ETF, index, commodity and forex markets.
What Swiftedge Depth offers
| Swiftedge Depth | What you get |
|---|---|
| Markets | Bitcoin, gold, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, US 500, US 100, silver and WTI crude oil perpetual futures |
| Order book heatmap | Resting bids and asks out to about 2 % from price, a new column four times a second |
| Trades | Every trade as a bubble sized by volume and colored by the aggressive side |
| Chart types | Line, candlesticks (1 minute to 4 hours, seconds with Swiftedge Plus) or a footprint chart: buying and selling at every price inside each candle, with POC and delta |
| Imbalance tools | Stacked imbalance zones and a live order book and volume imbalance readout |
| Studies | Volume profile (session, day, week, visible range), TPO, VWAP bands, 20 classic indicators and CVD divergence |
| History | The last 15 days (90 days with Swiftedge Plus), zoomable down to the raw book |
| Positioning | Swiftedge Positioning: where leveraged positions would be liquidated, by price, with the upper wall, lower wall, flip, fast walls and max liquidation, on the chart and on the positioning page |
| Alerts | Chart alerts for price and large walls while the tab is open, and free server alerts that work with the tab closed (browser push, Telegram or a webhook) on Swiftedge Alerts |
| Extras | CVD, VWAP, real liquidations, 26 drawing tools, a live levels page and a liquidation heatmap |
| Paper trading | Free paper trading on the live order book: market orders walk the book, limit orders wait in the queue, fees, funding and up to 10x, plus the free Order Flow Cup |
| Price | Free, no account, in the browser |
Next to Depth: Swiftedge Terminal with up to 16 live panels, free Swiftedge Alerts that work with the tab closed, a liquidation heatmap and a free data API and MCP server for AI assistants. All free, with no account.
The difference that matters
History. Basis keeps up to 15 minutes, recorded in your browser from the moment you open the panel. Depth loads up to the last 15 days from Swiftedge's servers as soon as it opens (90 days with Swiftedge Plus), so a wall from last night or last week is already on the chart. How to read the order book heatmap.
Update rate. Basis samples the book once a second. Depth adds a new column four times a second and draws every trade where it hit the book.
Gold. Basis shows tokenized gold, PAXG and XAUT. Depth's gold chart shows the gold perpetual futures order book (XAU), with silver, WTI crude oil, the US 500 and the US 100 in the same app.
Coverage. Basis covers far more coins and, with Founders, hundreds of traditional markets, plus options analytics and a screener. Swiftedge covers fewer markets and shows each one with every trade and up to 15 days of order book history.
Which one fits
- Basis fits when you want a full free browser terminal across many coins, with options analytics, a screener and backtesting, and a heatmap of the last 15 minutes is enough.
- Swiftedge fits when you want the order book's history the moment the chart opens, every trade on the book, a footprint chart, Positioning and free alerts, for crypto, gold, silver, oil and the US indices.
Common questions
Is Swiftedge a free alternative to Basis?
For a live order book heatmap, yes: Swiftedge Depth is free, needs no account and opens with up to 15 days of history. Basis is free too and covers many more coins, with options analytics, a screener and backtesting.
How much history does Basis's free heatmap keep?
Up to 15 minutes, recorded from when you open the Order Flow panel, according to Basis's free liquidity heatmap page on 8 November 2026. Swiftedge Depth opens with up to the last 15 days (90 days with Swiftedge Plus).
Which one shows the gold order book?
Basis shows two tokenized-gold order books, PAXG and XAUT. Swiftedge Depth shows the gold perpetual futures order book (XAU) at /gold/depth. Neither is the COMEX or spot gold market.
Can AI assistants read Swiftedge's data?
Yes. Swiftedge has a free data API and an MCP server for AI assistants, described on the developers page.
Where does Swiftedge's data come from?
Swiftedge reads public perpetual futures data from Hyperliquid and Lighter: the order book and every trade with its aggressor side. Everything shown is Swiftedge's own calculation.