How to Read Order Flow on Gold (XAUUSD) with a Footprint Chart in MT5

Price candles show you where the market went. A footprint chart shows you who pushed it there. In this post I explain, step by step, how I read order flow on Gold (XAUUSD) on M1 and M5 with RGT Cluster Footprint for MetaTrader 5.

1. Volume inside every candle

Each candle is split into price levels. At every level you see how much volume traded. The level with the most volume is the candle POC (white box). When price returns to a strong POC, it often reacts there.

2. Buyers vs sellers: BID x ASK

In BID x ASK mode you see aggressive sellers on the left and aggressive buyers on the right of every price. When one side is 3 times bigger than the other on the diagonal, the cell is highlighted as an imbalance. Three or more imbalances stacked together mark a strong zone.

3. Absorption in the wicks

When a lot of volume trades in a wick but price cannot continue, the other side is absorbing it. On Gold this often appears at session highs and lows. RGT marks these zones automatically and the WICK mode colors the rejection.

4. Delta and CVD: who is in control

Delta = buys minus sells of each candle. The CVD line adds them up during the day. When price makes a new high but CVD does not, buyers are getting weaker: a classic delta divergence.

5. Key levels: VWAP, session profile and virgin POCs

The session profile shows POC, VAH and VAL. The VWAP shows the average price of the day. Virgin POCs (nPOC) are levels that price has not revisited yet and often act as targets.

6. Putting it together

My routine on XAUUSD M5: mark the session (Asia / London / New York), wait for price to reach a key level (VWAP, VAH/VAL, nPOC), then look inside the candles for absorption or stacked imbalances with delta confirming. RGT draws BUY / SELL signals with a trade plan (entry, SL, TP1, TP2) when these conditions line up, and the Setup Lab measures each setup on your own symbol so you know which ones work best there.

Try it

RGT Cluster Footprint (5 views: CLASSIC, BID x ASK, PRO, WICK, BOX + delta panel, signals and Setup Lab) has a free demo you can run in the Strategy Tester (Visual mode, every tick based on real ticks, M1 or M5):
https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/203901

Free session tool (sessions, volume profile, VWAP, delta + CVD):
https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/207025

Video: https://youtu.be/HZT89l3-1kM

Questions? Leave a comment below, I answer every one.