Order Structure Essentials
Every limit order sits in the book until someone takes it, so watching the walls, spreads, and depth shows who is defending each level before price reacts. When a wall starts to fade or an order cluster appears, the local range often bends soon after.
Depth as Decision Support
Depth data turns the abstract order book into actionable context; compare the volume stacked on each side at the top of the book and decide whether to fade a thin barrier or lean into heavy support. Keeping those two levels in view helps you see whether a breakout attempt has the liquidity to follow through.
An order book is the ledger where every limit order waits for a match, and exchanges organize those rows by price so sellers sit above the current quote and buyers sit below. Because the book refreshes every second, it reveals how interest is stacking before any trade occurs, giving you a front-row seat to how professionals guard each level.
A bid wall is a thick cluster of buy orders at a price, while the mirror image is an ask wall packed with sellers. Strong walls can act like a temporary dam — price often hesitates when it bumps the wall, and small walls fall apart quickly and let momentum slide through.
Liquidity measures how much volume is ready to trade near the latest price, and spread is simply the gap between the highest bid and the lowest ask. Tight spreads mean the market will likely move with pruning friction, whereas wide spreads signal a quieter balance that may suddenly widen and introduce more volatility.
Price only changes when buys meet sells, so spotting the largest stacks inside the book helps explain why the chart freezes or surges. Watching which side refuses to give up makes you feel the pressure before the candles confirm any turn.
Visual tools such as Whalytics paint those stacks with color, showing the differences in depth without requiring you to count every order. When a wall thickens, the glow intensifies; when it fades, the color thins, so you can track how support and resistance live or die in real time.
This is not investment advice; treat these notes as a guide to understanding rather than a signal to trade.