The Footprint is becoming more and more popular and enjoys growing popularity, but is very often misinterpreted and misinterpreted. I would like to change this and give on this page concrete tips and help for successful action with the Footprint. The Footprint itself is not a “Holy Grail”, whoever hopes to find it here has unfortunately landed at the wrong address. 

There is simply no “Holy Grail” and it would be untrustworthy to say so. The Footprint itself can offer trading “setups”, which are very direct on the market and have a hit rate of about 60-70%, with small losses, because these simply belong to it and are unavoidable. The first question that arises is: What is the Footprint? The question is justified! The common opinion is: “the Footprint shows the Market Orders”. This is conditionally correct, but in essence very deceptive! Why is that so? The trader interprets the market order as the order that moves the market – which is completely correct! The Footprint does not only show the Market Orders, but also the traded Limit Orders; these are traded after they have been served or traded, namely at Market Orders, which do not move the price a single tick. 

The difference between the orders is a very simple one: The limit order is a limited buy or sell order, i.e. the order is limited in price! It should deliver this price to the trader as a fill! The market order is an unlimited order and is placed BEFORE the limit order, i.e. it is ALWAYS served first and moves – depending on the size of the order – the market by “hitting” the bid or “lifting” the offer (Ask). The footprint shows both sides, the executed limit orders that do not move the price and the market orders that move the price. 

It may seem strange at first glance, but this principle has been the same for 100 years. The left side of the Footprint shows the Bid and the right side the Ask, except for a Delta Footprint – which shows only one number, Ask minus Bid. So what does the trader see in the Footprint? Bid and Ask! The bid in meeting the limit is a passive purchase, meeting the Ask limit is a passive sale. The price itself is not moved if everyone would only buy or sell passively; market orders must “trade” the opposite price, otherwise nothing would happen. I hope this explanation was understandable for the first and has thrown a different picture on the Footprint.