Glossary

A trader who uses a market order and takes whatever price is available now. A market buy lifts the ask; a market sell hits the bid. Passive traders are the ones whose resting limit orders get filled.

A candle opened up to show, at every price level, how much traded on the bid (left number, aggressive sellers) and how much on the ask (right number, aggressive buyers).

Aggressive buying volume minus aggressive selling volume for one bar. Positive: buyers hit the market harder. Negative: sellers did.

A running total of every bar's delta. Rising CVD means net aggressive buying is accumulating; falling means net selling.

Price makes a fresh high (or low) that CVD does not match. New price, less aggression behind it.

The single price level with the most volume, inside one bar or across a whole profile.

The ask at one price compared with the bid one tick below it (buy imbalance) or the bid compared with the ask one tick above (sell imbalance). A ratio of 3:1 or more (shown as 300% on many platforms) is the standard threshold.

Three or more imbalances on the same side at consecutive price levels. One-sided aggression across a range of prices, not a single print.

Heavy, one-sided aggressive volume that fails to move price. Somebody with passive orders soaked it up.

Price keeps pushing to new extremes while the volume behind each push shrinks. The move is running out of participants.

All the volume of a period stacked by price. The value area is the range around the POC that holds 70% of that volume; the market's agreed area of value for the period.

Aggressive traders whose entry was immediately followed by price closing against them. Their exits become fuel for the move against them.

Effort is volume, result is how far price moved. Big effort with small result means the other side was waiting; small effort with big result means nobody was.

Price pushes through an obvious prior high or low and then closes back inside. The traders who broke the level are left holding the extreme.

A wide, fast bar. Whether it was 'backed' depends on whether delta matched its direction and was substantial.

The price bucket used on the chart (for example $10 or $50 for BTC). Every trade is rounded to the nearest bucket, so a level can sit a fraction outside the bar's exact high or low. Coarser ticks merge more trades into each level.