Volume Spikes
A mark on the heatmap when a burst of trading goes through — a large amount in a short window, across several price levels — pointing the way of the side that traded more.
A cluster of large orders that traded in a short window and pushed through several price levels. The ratio between what was bought at the ask and sold at the bid says which side paid for it.
- Heatmap
- any range
- Alerts
- yes
What it shows
A triangle on the heatmap each time a burst of trading completes: within a short window, the traded amount reaches the trigger while price moves through several price levels. It does not matter how many orders made the burst — it is a cluster of trading in time, not one order. (That is what Sweeps marks.)
The triangle sits at the price where the burst crossed the trigger. It points up, from below that price, in the buying colour when more was bought at the ask than sold at the bid; down, from above, in the selling colour when the selling was larger. Its plate prints the burst's total, both sides together, in the quote currency.
After a spike the indicator waits for the window to calm back under the trigger before it can mark again, so one busy stretch gives one mark rather than a row of them. Figures, tooltip, held marks and history work as for every mark on the heatmap.
This is not Relative Volume (RVOL), which compares whole bars with the bars before them.
How to read it
- Where a spike lands matters most: at a wall on the heatmap, at the edge of a range, or into thin liquidity.
- Direction is which side traded more inside the window — which side paid for the burst — not a forecast.
- A lopsided spike (mostly one side) is one side forcing the move; a balanced spike is a heavy two-way fight at one place. The ratio settings below can keep only one kind.
- Clusters of spikes in one direction describe a market being driven, bursts after bursts.
Parameters
| Setting | Control | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger volume (M) | Number | Range and default are set by TapeHawk; the settings dialog shows them. |
| Maximum duration (ms) | Number | Range and default are set by TapeHawk; the settings dialog shows them. |
| Price range (levels) | Number | Range and default are set by TapeHawk; the settings dialog shows them. |
| Ratio ≥ | Number | Range and default are set by TapeHawk; the settings dialog shows them. |
| Ratio ≤ | Number | Range and default are set by TapeHawk; the settings dialog shows them. |
| Max marks / minute | Number | At most this many symbols in any one minute, so a burst stays readable — and the same number is the ceiling on how often an alert rule on this signal may reach you. It is a display setting, so a rule takes this default and keeps it: turning the knob on a panel changes the drawing only. 1–30 · default 5 |
| Hold back marks the flow contradicts | On / off | The default is set by TapeHawk. |
| Hide held marks | On / off | A held mark is one this indicator decided not to assert: it is drawn as an outline with no label and sends no alert. The outline is there so you can judge the filter rather than trust it — you see the spikes it held back. Turn this on once you are satisfied and the outlines go; nothing is deleted, and turning it off puts every one of them back in the same frame. |
| Buying colour | Colour | |
| Selling colour | Colour |
Trigger volume (M) is how much must trade inside the window, both sides together, in millions of the quote currency. It is an absolute amount and its default is set for BTCUSDT: lower it on a smaller symbol or the marks will hardly ever appear. Maximum duration (ms) is how long that window is. Price range (levels) is how many price levels the burst must move through.
Ratio ≥ keeps only lopsided bursts, where the larger side outweighs the smaller by at least that much; Ratio ≤ keeps only balanced ones. Each does nothing at its lowest setting, and with both on, a burst passes when either matches.
Hold back marks the flow contradicts holds back a spike whose direction the recent order flow leans against; see held marks.
Alerts
The Alert tab has one signal, spike. Switch it on and TapeHawk tells you when a
volume spike marks on this symbol, with its size, price and side. The alert uses the settings on the Parameters tab
at the moment you switch it on; if you change them later, the tab offers to bring the alert along. Held marks send no
alert, and an alert reaches you at most as often as the default Max marks / minute allows.
Alerts need a confirmed account; Signal alerts covers the rest.
Limitations
- It is drawn on heatmap panels only, so only on symbols TapeHawk records, and it reaches back 24 hours.
- The trigger is an absolute amount, so one setting does not fit every symbol.
- A long, steady stream of trading that never packs enough into one window never marks, however much it adds up to.
Absorption Zones
Zones on a footprint panel where one side pushed through several levels and the bar then closed away — aggression that met resting size and failed, drawn as support or resistance.
Big Trades
A mark on the heatmap wherever a single trade printed large enough to be somebody's decision rather than the tail of a stream of small ones.