If you follow the development process of our platform, you probably know that since the last update passed less than a month. You’d better get a hold on something because we have prepared a very large release with several connections, valuable analytical features, useful improvements, and fixes.
Volume analysis tools
Cluster chart
As you know, regular chart types (candlestick, bar etc.) are limited to displaying only OHLC data. In this case, the most important data – the trade volume and its distribution at price levels – are hidden. Cluster chart shows the distribution of volume data within each bar, namely:
trading volume
number of trades
the distribution of trades by Ask or Bid prices
delta, the difference between the number of trades by Bid or by Ask
custom filters for trading volume and trades
and even more
As a result, you literally look inside the chart and can clearly assess the intentions of market participants.
Volume profiles
Volume profiles are horizontal histograms that show the distribution of selected volume data for each price level. This allows you to more accurately see the zones of maximum trading interest, and as a consequence, the “true” support/resistance levels. In the 3rd Dimension platform, we have several types of profiles:
Left and Right volume profile can be placed on the left and right side of the chart respectively. For example, you can set the delta data on one profile, and on the other the total volume for the same period of time. You can combine several profiles that are built on different time periods into one combo profile and put it on left or right chart position. We provide you with the full flexibility of the settings for these profiles.
Step profile displays volume profiles with a certain time step.
Custom profile allows you to build a profile on any time range. For instance, you want to see the distribution of the delta on the flat chart or for the impulse bar.
Time statistics (or Bar statistics)
It’s a remarkable functionality that shows extended volume statistics for each individual bar — Total volume, Trades, Buy and Sell volume, Delta, as well as custom filters. For example, you can see how many buy or sell trades have passed in one candle from the total trading volume, assess the delta and the average trade size.
Time histogram
It’s a similar feature to Time statistics that shows volume data as a vertical histogram for each individual bar. But unlike Time statistics, it allows you to visually evaluate the data for each bar, not only by colors but also by the shape of the histogram.
Historical Time & Sales
If you want to see how the trades distributed in a particular bar, then the Historical T & S will be indispensable. By selecting any bar, you will see all the trades from the first second. In this case, you can set up filtering to display data with a certain volume or apply to sort by price, volume, etc.
Price Statistics panel
This panel is an excellent addition for traders who prefer volume analysis. It shows aggregated data on volumes and trades for a specified period at each price level. This functionality is very similar to the Volume Profile, except for the data displays in a tabular form, which can be exported to external files for further analysis.
Kraken, Bitfinex, HitBTC are already available
In this release, we decided to add three crypto exchanges — Kraken, Bitfinex, HitBTC — which (so far) will be available as market data providers. Using their data, you can test your trading systems using History Player. Previously we showed how to operate a History Player panel using the example of FX connections in our article.
Also, you can compare prices for crypto assets on different exchanges, using a simultaneous connection.
In a nutshell, volume analysis is a powerful trading technique that allows you to look deeply into market structure and grasp processes that move a price.
In an efficient market, which are all modern stocks and futures markets, the price is always fair and already has included all events that were happened for the current moment.
Inefficient or weakly efficient markets, like crypto-assets, allow you to use more simple techniques that are based on technical analysis or price action. But anyway all of them tend to become efficient.
Thus, an understanding of the imbalance between supply and demand can serve as a fundamental factor in making better trading decisions.
Two main market phases – Accumulation, Distribution
Structure of any financial or commodity market has a cycling nature, in which we can distinguish two important phases alternately passing into each other:
Accumulation phase
Distribution phase
During the Accumulation phase market participants entering their positions within a particular time (from several hours to several days) that eventually turns the “balance” state into a state of “imbalance.”
In the market structure, one of the sides begins to predominate: buyers or sellers. This process has a spontaneous nature and its duration in time is always different, but the result of this process is always the same – the transition to the distribution stage.
Distribution phase is characterized by a rapid price change, because at the moment, one of the parties (buyers or sellers) strongly dominates the market, pushing the price. In fact, the distribution stage is the search for a fair price where buyers and sellers will be in a state of balance again.
At the same time, the distribution stage does not always come from the accumulation stage. The key trigger can be any economic or financial news like interest rate change, export/import balance change, etc. i.e., all that somehow affects on the traders’ decisions.
For example, a year report of grain harvest directly affects the value of the corresponding grain futures. The report on the change in natural gas reserves accordingly affects gas futures and so on.
Any market is subject to the stages described above, which form the structures of trends, corrections, resistance/support levels, price action patterns.
Volume as the basis of market structure
It’s no secret that the price change is depending on a change in the supply-demand ratio. If buyers dominate the market, then the price moves up and vice versa.
If you take a closer look at the trading process, you will notice that the traded volume is moving the price at a given moment in time. For example, if we send a Market Order to buy 10 lots of an asset, and the nearest opposite Sell Limit order has a volume of 1 lot, then we will buy it and redeem the next level after it, and then the next, and so on until the entire order in 10 lots will be executed. Thus, we have created an upward price movement using our market order.
Such a struggle between buyers and sellers constantly occurs within the accumulation stage. Therefore, it is critically important for us to understand what levels at this stage have taken place. Fortunately, we can easily identify these levels — levels on which, for a certain period (hour, day, week …), was accumulated the largest volume — are the ones we looked for.
Commonly, this is not some specific level, but a set of nearby levels that form a range of accumulation.
Let’s take a look on the screenshot that illustrates a volume profile for one trading day — the area between the two yellow vertical lines. We see two accumulation zones and two small distribution stages.
Let’s add more details in our example using a current day’s volume profile as an overlay.
The blue histogram of volumes for the current day is distributed by a dense group at the same levels as yesterday, continuing to form a stage of accumulation in a fairly narrow price corridor.
Let’s add volume profiles for the current and last weeks.
The dark blue histogram is the volume profile for the last week, the green for the current one. Based on the presented structure, it can be concluded, that the current stage of accumulation is a part of the accumulation stage, that was formed last week.
Let’s see how the price reacted to the volume, accumulated during the last week.
We see how the asset’s accumulated volume was distributed downward by the trend, after which it returned to the same zone, and then was distributed downward again, after which a new accumulation stage took place. Then was a small distribution and again the accumulation stage in the zone of volumes formed last week.
Conclusion:the accumulation stages are strong resistance/support zones, and the combination of such zones for different time intervals increases their significance and reliability further.
The analysis of volume profiles gives you an understanding of the relationship between the structure of supply and demand and allows you to conclude who is currently owning the situation and on what areas the price can react in the future.
The set of Volume analysis metrics – Delta, Number of trades
As have already been described previously, volume – is a fundamental factor affecting the price, but along with it, there is a wide variety of metrics, the combination of which allows more detailed understanding of the causal relationship of the ongoing process.
Let’s look at some of them. The first metric that should be paid attention to is the number of trades. The combination of the distribution of trades and volumes allows you to make interesting conclusions.
A large volume, along with a large number of trades, indicates the interest of traders in this particular level, this level will be the mathematical expectation around which the accumulation zone will be formed, in other words, it will be the center of the channel from which the trend movement will subsequently go.
But also it should be understood, that such level is most likely will not be a specific starting point for the trend.
However, a large volume in conjunction with a small number of trades can show the presence of large traders and such an accurate level or group of levels can be excellent resistance/support zones.
On the screenshot, the blue histogram is the volume distribution for the week, and the gray histogram is the distribution of trades.
In conjunction with the indicator of trades distribution, it is very convenient to use the distribution of the average volumes of one trade (Average size). Let’s switch the right histogram to the average trade size display mode.
The selected level of resistance/support corresponds to the maximum value of the average trade size, which certainly speaks about the interest of large traders in this level and further increases its significance.
Continuing our analysis, let’s switch the right histogram to the maximum volume in one trade (Max one trade vol)display mode and see what happens.
And again, at the selected level, we see that there was a maximum one-time trade, which confirms the fact of a major participant presence, and, most likely, it was the trigger that gave the start to the distribution stage.
Let’s find this trade in history and understand the causal relationship using the Historical Time& Sales.
This trade was a part of the accumulation stage that occurred at the end of last week, after which there was a rapid distribution stage, and subsequently, the market used all the following week to use this zone as a strong support zone.
This behavior of the price says that the large participant protected his long position.
Delta metric — shows the difference between the volume of all trades, having an aggressor marker of purchase and all trades with an aggressor marker of sale.
Here it is necessary to give a small explanation. Each trade has two participants: the buyer and the seller. One participant entered the market using market order or an aggressive limit, the second one had a limit order in the DOM.
The aggressor marker is assigned to the direction of the market order or aggressive limit. For example, let’s buy 10 lots at the market price and let’s say that the counterparty has a limit order of 10 lots. Because of the purchase is made at the market, and the sale is made from the limit order, the trade will have an aggressor’s marker of Buy.
The general formula can be described as follows:
Aggressor Buy: Last >= Prev. Ask
Aggressor Sell: Last <= Prev. Bid
Aggressor None: Bid < Last < Ask
The absolute value of the delta is primarily an auxiliary metric. The dominance of one of the market sides does not mean that the distribution stage will occur in the same direction.
In practice, the net delta indicators are used more often. These are the price levels at which all 100% of trades had the same aggressor marker, indicating, that all the participants completely made purchases/sales in the same direction at market price. This technique is used when the price goes to a significant level of resistance/support and from which a significant reaction is expected.
Conclusion. The volume, being the basis of the market structure, allows us to deeply understand the nature of processes that occur inside. Along with a large number of metrics and their combinations, volumetric analysis becomes a really powerful tool in the trading arsenal of the trader.
Ready for the next release? So, today we present you a new panel, called Account Performance which will become indispensable during testing automated or manual trading systems. Besides, we have implemented a demo trading for cryptocurrencies, thanks to which you can test trading strategies in real time. Additionally, at the request of our users, we’ve added Hotkey buttons for drawing tools.
Let’s dive into the details of new features.
Account Performance panel
As you know, it is not enough to create a trading system and immediately launch it. On the next step, you should to test it and analyze the results to further optimization and enhancement. For this goal, we have developed a special Account Performance panel, which automatically collects the results of all executed trades and displays them in a chart view. Detailed statistics on the performance of the trading system will allow quantifying the risks and profitability.
Demo trading for digital assets on any crypto exchange
Most crypto exchanges do not offer demo trading for digital currencies. This restriction forces traders to test new trading systems with real money, that increases the risk of losing capital. The developers of 3rd Dimension implemented the functionality of a trading simulation, which will allow you to test a trading system or idea without risking real money, and improve trading practice using real-time data of connected crypto exchanges. It means that a trader can trade cryptocurrencies without having a trading account with a particular broker or a crypto exchange.
Five steps for cryptocurrency demo trading
Activate the connection to one or several crypto exchanges available from the connection list and launch the Trading Simulator panel.
Choose a trading symbol for testing.
To simulate marginal trading, in the settings panel specify the netting type for positions. In case of exchange execution, deactivate Marginal trading mode.
Use the Crypto OE panel to exchange one currency for another.
Analyze trading results using the Account Performance panel
Keyboard Shortcuts for drawing tools
We have added Hotkey buttons for drawing tools at the request of our users. Each time traders add a new drawing to the chart, they had to go into the Drawing library menu, find it in the extensive list and add to the chart. With frequent use of drawings, this procedure is slightly tiring. Although a trader can add any drawing to his favorites list for quick selection, some users prefer to use Hotkey Buttons for this purpose. Set up a Keyboard Shortcut combination for the necessary drawing and call it immediately.
We hope that you will like the new functionality and will be useful in trading practice. If you know how to improve it, share with us the idea, and we will implement it.
Despite the fact that last week we released BitMEX and Symbol Mapping, today we have prepared another batch of new features. The most interesting of them is, of course, the Power Trades tool. But about everything in order.
Power Trades. New tool for searching huge trades
The cornerstone of the current update is the Power Trades tool, which shows the execution of large volumes in a short time. It can be both a large number of orders with a small volume, and vice versa, several orders with large volumes. In any case, the price will react to these levels.
In the tool settings, you can set various parameters that will filter the total volume by time, the minimum or maximum volume value, and the delta. You should also individually select the parameters for each instrument, as they differ in terms of liquidity, number of participants and the nature of the movement.
Quick Order Entry panel
This panel combines Chart Trading and FX Cell functionality, allowing you to see the current Bid/Ask prices of the selected instrument, as well as send orders or open positions by market. But unlike the standard FX Cell panel, it is always (!) on the chart. In case you do not need it, you can easily close it by clicking on the “Show/Hide Quick OE” icon on the chart toolbar.
To create and place trade orders, you can use controls to manage orders — order type, quantity, price, and TIF option.
Help Center on the main toolbar
We’ve put together links to Documentation, Video manuals as well Live Chat with our support team in one place. If you have any questions about the functionality of the platform or have any idea how to improve it, please contact our support directly from the platform.
In case some functionality is not clear, go to the documentation section where you can find more information on the necessary panel. We remind you that in the menu of each panel there is also a link to the documentation.
