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Order-flow recap: a return to an old level leads the tape

Per-symbol recap

BTCUSDT closed at 82,078.00, 0.76% above the open at 81,455.80, and traded as high as 82,268.70 and as low as 80,647.70 over the 24 hours of 18 October 2026. Turnover reached 96,159 at 0.69 times its usual pace, and the tape finished with a positive delta of 1,360 as the cumulative line peaked at 10:32 UTC and troughed at 19:41 UTC. Marks totalled 2,593, the most frequent of them on the sell side, with buy-side book imbalance recorded far more often than the sell-side.

ETHUSDT finished at 2,409.12, up 0.31% from 2,401.57, having printed 2,429.24 and 2,327.32. Volume came in at 0.85 times its usual level, with cumulative volume delta high at 09:09 UTC and low at 19:45 UTC. The tape carried 1,993 marks, and absorption marks led them on both sides, buy outweighing sell.

SOLUSDT closed at 104.07, 0.63% higher on the day, between 100.35 and 104.75, on turnover of 0.76 times its usual level and positive delta of 152,333. Marks totalled 8,104, most of them liquidation changes.

BNBUSDT settled at 723.78, up 0.73% from 718.53, ranging between 706.00 and 724.67 on volume at 0.91 times its norm. The tape recorded 7,111 marks and a negative delta of 11,840, with cumulative volume delta high at 04:01 UTC and low at 19:46 UTC.

ZECUSDT closed at 1,130.46, 0.32% above the open, after trading between 1,048.09 and 1,156.43. Volume ran at 0.92 times its usual level and the delta was negative at 30,617; marks totalled 184.

XAUUSDT finished at 4,191.60, up 0.66% from 4,164.19, inside a range from 4,155.18 to 4,192.46. Volume was 0.18 times its norm and the delta positive at 1,020, across 6,077 marks, most of them liquidation changes.

XAUTUSDT closed at 4,176.40, 0.60% higher on volume at 0.32 times its usual pace, with a small negative delta of 281 and 2,397 marks recorded.

SNDKUSDT closed at 1,298.56, gaining 2.26% from 1,269.80 with a positive delta of 11,511 and volume at 0.38 times its norm. SOXLUSDT ended at 94.62, up 2.26%, though its delta was negative at 148,338, and SPCXUSDT closed at 145.99, 0.45% higher on volume at 0.13 times its usual level.

The readings: what the footprint and heatmap recorded

Three markets made the same market-wide push at the same time — ETHUSDT, BNBUSDT and SOLUSDT all climbed alongside SPCXUSDT, which rose 2.02% over 60 minutes from 142.97 to 145.86, a climb worth 3.07 times the average hourly range. In the minutes before it the tape carried 2 marks, at 0.75 times the day's normal, the most frequent of them Market Volume Imbalance on the buy side. During it the count was 10, at 0.93 times the day's normal, led by Market Volume Imbalance on the buy side.

SNDKUSDT climbed 3.35% over 60 minutes, from 1,266.01 to 1,308.39, at 3.03 times the average hourly range, while SOXLUSDT, XAUUSDT, XAUTUSDT and ZECUSDT made the same push. The minutes before held 6 marks at 3.95 times the day's normal, most of them Market Volume Imbalance on the buy side; during the move, 8 marks came at 1.29 times the day's normal, led by Stop Runs on the buy side.

ETHUSDT fell 1.77% in 28 minutes, from 2,369.16 to 2,327.32, at 2.52 times the average hourly range. Before it, 1 mark was recorded at 0.05 times the day's normal, an Absorptions on the buy side. During it, 59 marks came at 1.47 times the day's normal, led by Stop Volume on the sell side.

The day's best retest came on ETHUSDT: price returned to 2,350.70, a zone it touched 2 times during the clip, and the reading covered 60 minutes from 21:05 UTC to 22:05 UTC, carrying 1.52% from 2,352.94 to 2,388.79. The zone is drawn on the candle and footprint charts, and shows a level where price had turned before, with heavy volume traded there. The 3 indicators below recorded their marks in the same move — a confluence seen together on the heatmap chart. Absorptions on the heatmap chart recorded 28 marks on the buy side during the retest's hour: a large amount of size piled up while price stayed inside a narrow band, then the band gave way. Volume Spikes on the heatmap chart recorded 16 marks on the buy side in the same hour: a burst of trading went through, a large amount in a few seconds across several price levels, pointing the way of the side that traded more. Big Trades on the heatmap chart recorded 7 marks on the buy side in that hour: one very large fill at a single price, a decision rather than the tail of many small trades. On the candle chart, Relative Volume (RVOL) showed the volume of the bars reaching 19.70 times its recent average while the marks were recorded, so the tape was traded heavily rather than drifted into.

Top movers among the tracked symbols

Among the 745 tracked symbols:

  • ARIAUSDT +34.57% — $144.1M
  • GTCUSDT +12.12% — $145.9M
  • ICNTUSDT +10.48% — $149.0M
  • APRUSDT −27.57% — $121.8M
  • AGTUSDT −19.35% — $379.3M
  • AVAUSDT −15.63% — $146.9M
  • Spike: AGTUSDT −19.35% at 100.53 times its usual volume — $379.3M
  • Spike: ARIAUSDT +34.57% at 97.33 times its usual volume — $144.1M
  • Spike: ICNTUSDT +10.48% at 61.09 times its usual volume — $149.0M

Not financial advice.