01 / MECHANICS
Aggressive buying & selling
Every executed trade has both sides. “Aggressive” describes the side that takes available liquidity: buying into an offer or selling into a bid.
Databento · trade-side definitionsLOOK BENEATH THE CANDLE
Every trade
leaves a tale.
Price is the headline.
Order flow is the story underneath.
A clearer lens on buying, selling and the way price responds. Built for curious minds who want to understand the auction.
Research in progress. Clarity by design.
DELTATALES / CHART STUDIESSYNTHETIC DATA
Bid × ask footprint
Bid × ask at every price.Grouped traded volume, bar delta and a volume profile.
THE DELTATALES PERSPECTIVE
Observe the activity.Read the response.Respect the uncertainty.01 — THE LENS
Go beyond
the closing price.
A candle compresses a market into four prices. Order flow adds another layer: who crossed the spread, how much traded, and where activity concentrated.
THE BALANCE OF AGGRESSIONWho is taking
Who is taking
the initiative?
Market delta is buy-initiated volume minus sell-initiated volume over a chosen interval. It describes executed pressure, not the number of buyers and sellers.
Δ = buy volume − sell volume
Aggressive buying accompanies a rising schematic price path. Continuation still needs evidence.
Read the calculation reference ↗Buy-initiated730
Sell-initiated350
Net delta+380
Invented quantities for learning. No feed, forecast or performance result.
02 — THE FIELD GUIDE
Learn the language
of participation.
Six ideas that make order flow easier to read. Start with the mechanics, then add context.
02 / PRESSURE
Market delta
Buy-initiated volume minus sell-initiated volume. A positive value means more volume initiated by buyers; it does not mean price must rise.
Sierra Chart · delta calculation03 / ACCUMULATION
Cumulative volume delta
CVD adds each interval’s delta to a running total. The starting point, session reset and trade classification matter when comparing charts.
Sierra Chart · cumulative delta04 / LOCATION
Footprint & volume at price
A footprint opens the bar to show traded volume at individual prices. Volume at price shows where trading occurred; it is different from resting depth.
Sierra Chart · Numbers Bars05 / RESPONSE
Absorption
Aggressive trades meet passive liquidity with limited price progress. This can suggest absorption, but the observation alone does not establish a reversal.
Bookmap · absorption explained06 / DISCIPLINE
Observation comes first.
A flow pattern is evidence to examine. A trading signal requires explicit rules, validation and risk controls. One compelling example is not a tested edge.
How we think about researchReferences explain market mechanics. They do not imply endorsement of DeltaTales.
03 — OUR APPROACH
Less noise.
Better questions.
DeltaTales is an independent order-flow research and software project. Our starting point is simple: understand what traded before deciding what it might mean.
GROUNDED IN OBSERVATION
Designed for understanding.
Designed for understanding.
Start with the trades.
Research begins with actual NQ E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures trade data. Data quality, aggressor classification and session boundaries come before interpretation.
Pair pressure with response.
Read delta alongside price, location and participation. Strong aggression with little movement asks a different question from aggression with sustained progress.
Keep the claim smaller than the evidence.
Separate an observed pattern from a validated rule. Make assumptions explicit, test carefully, and leave room for the market to disagree.
THE NEXT CHAPTER
A considered build.
An honest starting point.
The public field guide is here to explore. The DeltaTales analytics application is in development, with no public launch date yet.
Start with the field guideEducational field guideAvailable here
Analytics applicationIn development
Public account accessNot available
This website offers education and an illustrative explainer. It does not provide trading signals or account connectivity.
A LITTLE MORE CONTEXT
Good questions.
Is this a live trading platform?
No. This is the public educational website for a research project in development. All visuals on this page are synthetic illustrations. There is no live data connection, public trading dashboard or order execution here.
Can order flow predict the next move?
Order flow describes trading activity. Its interpretation depends on context and data quality. Positive delta can coexist with falling prices, and absorption does not guarantee a reversal. Any proposed predictive rule needs independent testing.
Is futures order flow the same as a CFD feed?
No. The research context here is exchange-traded NQ futures. A broker’s NAS100 CFD is a different instrument, with its own prices, liquidity and execution conditions. Futures flow should not be described as that CFD’s own order book.
Why can two delta charts disagree?
Different data coverage, trade-side classification, aggregation, filters and session resets can change the result. The explorer uses explicitly invented, fully classified quantities and resets CVD to zero before the first interval.
Does the explainer collect my details?
The explainer runs in your browser without account creation, forms, analytics trackers or cookies. It does not send your selections to a server. The hosting server may retain ordinary request logs.