Discussing the article: "Creating Custom Indicators in MQL5 (Part 9): Order Flow Footprint Chart with Price Level Volume Tracking"

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Check out the new article: Creating Custom Indicators in MQL5 (Part 9): Order Flow Footprint Chart with Price Level Volume Tracking.

This article builds an order-flow footprint indicator in MQL5 that aggregates tick-by-tick volume into quantized price levels and supports Bid vs Ask and Delta display modes. A canvas overlay renders color-scaled volume text aligned with the candles and updates on every tick. You will learn sorting of price levels, max-value normalization for color mapping, and responsive redraws on zoom, scroll, and resize to read volume distribution and aggressor dominance inside each bar.

A footprint chart records traded volume at each price level inside a bar, splitting it into ask volume for buying activity and bid volume for selling activity, so instead of a single candle body, we see a stack of price rows each carrying its own volume signature. Delta is the difference between ask and bid volume at each level. A strongly positive delta indicates buying pressure, while a strongly negative delta indicates selling pressure or absorption. When you stack these rows across multiple bars, patterns emerge that are invisible on a standard candlestick chart: levels where volume clustered heavily often act as future reference points, while levels with almost no volume represent price areas the market moved through quickly with little interest.

In live trading, use the delta column to identify where aggressive buyers or sellers stepped in — a bar with a high positive delta near a support level confirms buying conviction, making it a stronger candidate for a long entry. Watch for delta divergence where price makes a new high, but the delta weakens, signaling that buying aggression is fading and a reversal may follow. High total volume rows inside a bar often mark the point of control for that bar — price tends to return to these levels on retracements. In bid versus ask mode, look for diagonal imbalances where the ask volume at one level significantly outweighs the bid volume at the level directly below it, indicating stacked buying pressure that can propel the price higher. Conversely, dominant bid volume stacked diagonally below ask volume signals selling pressure. Use low-volume nodes inside bars to identify areas where price may accelerate through on a revisit, as the market showed little interest there the first time.

Author: Allan Munene Mutiiria