Level 2
Real-time order book data showing the bid and ask prices and sizes waiting at multiple price levels — market depth rather than a chart overlay — used to gauge near-term supply and demand.
What the numbers mean
No period to set — the display shows resting bids and offers at each price level, with depth controlling how many levels are visible and which venues are aggregated.
- Top 5 or 10 levels — how much depth is displayed
- Bid / ask size — the shares resting at each price
- Aggregated or by venue — whether market makers are shown separately
- No period at all; it is live order data, not a calculation
How it is used
Used by short-term traders to see where size is resting and how quickly it refreshes, as a read on immediate supply and demand around the current price.
- Large resting size at a price → a level that may hold, if it is real
- Size pulling as price approaches → it was never real
- Rapid refreshing of the bid → persistent buying interest
How it relates to everything else
Level 2 is the only tool here that shows intent rather than history — everything else on this page describes completed trades. That said, it shows only visible orders, and hidden and flashed size make it the easiest display on a trading screen to misread.
- Shows resting orders; every other indicator shows completed trades
- Read with time and sales, which shows what actually executed
- Large participants deliberately hide or flash size
What to watch for
The book shows only visible orders and changes in milliseconds; large participants deliberately hide or flash size, so depth is frequently a misleading picture of real intent.