- Asks (red) are offers to sell, bids (green) are offers to buy.
- A tight spread means you can enter and exit close to the last price.
- Grouping merges nearby levels so large clusters of orders stand out.
- The trades tape shows who is acting right now — buyers or sellers.
Next to the chart in the terminal is the order book: the list of limit orders waiting on the exchange. The chart shows where the price has been; the order book shows where buyers and sellers are waiting right now. Reading it takes a few minutes to learn and gives you context the chart alone can't.
Bids and asks
Asks, shown in red above the middle, are offers to sell. Bids, shown in green below, are offers to buy. Each row shows the size waiting at a price, and the bar behind it shows how large that size is compared with the rest of the visible book. The lowest ask and the highest bid are the best prices currently available.
The spread
The gap between the best ask and the best bid is the spread, shown in the middle row together with the mid price. A tight spread — often one cent on major crypto pairs — means a liquid market where you can trade close to the last price. A wide spread means fewer orders and more slippage when you enter or exit.
Price grouping
Above the book is a grouping selector. It merges nearby levels into steps — for Bitcoin, for example 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 or 100 dollars. Small steps show the exact queue; large steps reveal where bigger clusters of orders sit. Clusters often act as short-term support (big bids) or resistance (big asks), because the price has to absorb all that size to move through them.
- 1Start with the default step and look at the bars, not the numbers.
- 2Switch to a larger step to see where size is stacked further away.
- 3Compare both sides: heavy bids below and thin asks above often means the path of least resistance is up — and the other way round.
The trades tape
The Trades tab shows executed trades as they happen. Green prints mean a buyer took an ask; red prints mean a seller hit a bid. A burst of same-coloured prints shows who is in control right now, and unusually large prints show where bigger participants are active.
Limits of the order book
- Orders can be cancelled at any time — a big wall can disappear the moment the price approaches it.
- The book shows intention, the tape shows action. Confirm one with the other.
- Use it for timing entries and exits, not as the only reason for a trade.
This article is for educational purposes and is not investment advice. Trading with leverage carries a high level of risk and you can lose all invested capital.