Order flow · Free tool
Free crypto order flow tool: heatmap, bubbles, footprint, CVD
Swiftedge Depth is a free crypto order flow tool that runs in your browser. It shows the live order book as a heatmap, every trade as a bubble, a footprint chart of buying and selling at each price, and CVD with a volume profile, all on one time axis. No sign-up, no download.
Open the full chartEvery trade as a bubble, at least 24 hours of history, 30+ indicators. Free, no sign-up.
Open Swiftedge DepthWhat order flow is
Order flow is the record of orders arriving in a market and how they meet. Every trade involves two kinds of order:
- Resting orders (makers). Limit orders waiting in the order book at a price someone chose. Together they are the liquidity: bids below the price, asks above it.
- Aggressive orders (takers). Orders that trade at once against what is resting. Every trade has exactly one aggressor, and it decides whether the trade counts as buying or selling.
The price moves when aggressive orders use up the resting liquidity at one level and have to trade at the next. Order flow analysis watches that contest directly: where the liquidity sits, how much aggressive volume arrives, and which one gives way. The guide to takers, makers and absorption goes deeper into the two sides, and the glossary explains every term on this page.
In crypto the contest is unusually easy to see: perpetual futures trade around the clock, the order books are public, and every trade arrives with its aggressor side attached.
Four views of order flow, on one chart
1. Order book heatmap: the resting side
The heatmap draws the resting orders over time: green bids below the price, violet asks above, brighter where more size is waiting. A new column arrives four times a second, with at least the last 24 hours to scroll back through. Bright bands are liquidity walls; the heatmap shows when each appeared, how long it stood, and whether it was filled or pulled. More on the Bitcoin order book heatmap page.
2. Trade bubbles: the aggressive side
Every trade is drawn as a bubble at its price and time, sized by volume: teal when a buyer lifted the ask, violet when a seller hit the bid. Over the heatmap you see which wall the trades hit and what happened to it. Filters and common patterns: order flow bubbles.
3. Footprint chart: the aggressive side, counted
Switch the chart type to footprint and every candle opens into price rows with two numbers: volume sold into the bid and volume bought from the ask. Diagonal imbalances of 300 % are highlighted, three or more in a row form a stacked imbalance, and the row with the most volume, the point of control, is framed. Footprint timeframes run from 5 seconds to 1 hour. More on the footprint chart page.
4. CVD and volume profile: the totals
CVD, cumulative volume delta, adds up aggressive buying minus aggressive selling since 8:00 PM ET (00:00 UTC) and is drawn over the volume pane under the chart. The volume profile shows how much traded at each price for the day, a session, the week, the last hours or the visible range, with the point of control, value area and naked POCs. More on the volume profile chart page.
| View | Answers | Where in Depth |
|---|---|---|
| Order book heatmap | Where is liquidity waiting, and what happened to it? | On from the start |
| Trade bubbles | Who is aggressive, where, and how big? | On from the start |
| Footprint chart | What traded at each price inside each candle? | Chart type in the top bar |
| CVD | Which side has been more aggressive today? | Volume pane under the chart |
| Volume profile | Where did most of the volume trade? | + add indicator |
Depth has more than 30 indicators beside these, including VWAP and VWAP bands, liquidations, an imbalance readout, absorption zones, TPO and 20 classic indicators, all explained in the indicator guide.
A workflow for one session
- Mark the map. Zoom out over the last 24 hours. Note the walls that have stood for hours, the previous day's high, low and point of control on the volume profile, and the day's VWAP.
- Set alerts instead of watching. Price and large-wall alerts work in Depth while the tab is open. Swiftedge Alerts keep watching with the tab closed, by browser push, Telegram or a Discord or Slack webhook. Both are free.
- Read the contact. When the price reaches a marked wall, watch the bubbles and the band together: does the wall hold, get eaten or get pulled?
- Count it on the footprint. Switch to the footprint on a short timeframe and look at the numbers at the level. Heavy volume on one side without progress is absorption; a break often leaves stacked imbalances behind.
- Check the totals. Is CVD moving with the price or against it? A rise with CVD flat is carried by little aggressive buying; CVD climbing while the price stalls means the resting side is absorbing it.
- Add the leverage picture. The Liquidations layer shows forced closes as they happen, and the liquidation heatmap estimates where leveraged positions would be closed next.
- Widen the view. Swiftedge Terminal puts up to 16 live panels on one screen.
Markets covered
Depth shows the Bitcoin, gold, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, US 500, US 100, silver and WTI crude oil perpetual futures markets: the order book out to about 2 % from the price and every trade with its aggressor side. Each market has its own Depth, one click away in the top bar, with the same indicators, footprint chart, alerts and 26 drawing tools.
All of them trade around the clock, at weekends too, so the heatmap has no closing gap. The books are usually thinner at night and at weekends, so the same size stands out more as a wall then than during a busy session. Bitcoin order flow is at swiftedge.uk/depth, and every other market has its own address in the same form, such as /eth/depth for Ethereum.
What Depth does not show: every venue where these markets trade, spot order books, or orders on other venues. It is the order flow of the perpetual futures books it records, drawn in full, not the whole market.
Common questions
What is a crypto order flow tool?
A chart that shows how orders arrive and trade, not only where the price went: the resting orders in the order book, the aggressive trades that hit them, and totals such as delta and CVD. Swiftedge Depth shows all of them on one time axis.
Is there a free order flow tool for crypto?
Yes. Swiftedge Depth is free in the browser with no account and no download. Everything on Swiftedge is free for everyone, paid for by clearly marked sponsor placements and voluntary support.
How do I see Bitcoin order flow live?
Open swiftedge.uk/depth. It shows the Bitcoin perpetual futures order book as a heatmap with every trade as a bubble, and the footprint chart, CVD and volume profile are one click away.
What is the difference between the order book and order flow?
The order book is the resting orders at one moment. Order flow is how orders arrive, trade and get canceled over time. A heatmap with trade bubbles shows both: the book as bands and the flow as bubbles.
Which data does Swiftedge use?
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; the FAQ lists the sources.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Depth has a phone layout and can be installed as an app. The Terminal and Alerts also run in any modern browser.
Is order flow a trading signal?
No. Order flow describes what is resting and what traded. Swiftedge shows it for information and education; it is not a signal, a forecast or financial advice.