If you’ve ever spent considerable time day trading, you’ve likely pondered the purpose of the buy and sell orders that rapidly fluctuate in your charting software. In NinjaTrader, these values appear in the DOM window. In TradeStation, the DOM equivalent is the matrix. One cannot always rely on the buy sell values to determine support and resistance. Attempting to “tape read” these values will often result in failure. Why is this? May of these orders are “phantom” orders, placed by automated systems in hopes of manipulating retail traders to enter at compromising positions. If you look closely, you’ll see these orders disappear when price nears. What can do you about it? Don’t use order quantities to place your trades. This phantom phenomena occurs in the ES and across all other futures and currencies.
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