What is a Footprint Chart?

Footprint chart is a type of candlestick chart that provides additional information, such as trade volume and order flow, in addition to price. It is multi-dimensional in nature, and can provide an investor with more information for analysis, beyond just the security's price. This tool is a unique offering that is gaining popularity amongst leading charting software providers.

Key Takeaways Footprint charts are a type of candlestick chart that provides additional information, such as trade volume and order flow, in addition to price.

Footprint chart provides the benefit of analyzing multiple variables in a focused diagram.

Common footprint charts include footprint profile, bid/ask footprint, delta footprint, and volume footprint.

Understanding Footprint Charts

Footprint charts provide multidimensional diagrams that let traders observe additional market variables overlaid on a candlestick chart, including information on volume, bid-ask spreads, and liquidity levels. Traders have the ability to customize footprint charts to include those individual variables that they are most interested in tracking. Similar to standard candlestick charts, traders can also customize the chart’s time-frame to analyze the security’s movement on a short, intermediate or long-term basis.

Overall, the footprint chart provides the benefit of analyzing multiple variables in a focused diagram. These charts may also be grouped with other multi-variable charts used by advanced traders, such as level II quote charts or depth of market charts. Many advanced charting providers offer multi-variable quoting systems that can be purchased on a subscription basis as an add-on to standard software services.

Footprint Chart Variations

There are several types of footprint charts that may be available through a charting provider. Some of the most common footprint charts used by traders include the following:

Footprint Profile : Shows traders the volume at each price through a vertical histogram, in addition to the regular footprint bars. The footprint profile allows traders to see at what prices liquidity is pooling.

: Shows traders the volume at each price through a vertical histogram, in addition to the regular footprint bars. The footprint profile allows traders to see at what prices liquidity is pooling. Bid/Ask Footprint : Adds color to the real-time volume, for easier visualization of buyers and sellers probing the bid or ask. With this footprint, traders can see whether the buyers or the sellers are the responsible parties, for influencing a price move.

: Adds color to the real-time volume, for easier visualization of buyers and sellers probing the bid or ask. With this footprint, traders can see whether the buyers or the sellers are the responsible parties, for influencing a price move. Delta Footprint : Displays the net difference between volume initiated by buyers and volume initiated by sellers, at each price. The delta footprint helps traders confirm that a price trend has started and will continue on.

: Displays the net difference between volume initiated by buyers and volume initiated by sellers, at each price. The delta footprint helps traders confirm that a price trend has started and will continue on. Volume Footprint: Unlike the volume histogram on traditional charts, the volume footprint segments volume not only by time, but by price as well. This chart aims to help traders determine points of capitulation.

MarketDelta

MarketDelta is one of the most popular software providers for footprint charts, which are available through monthly subscriptions. The MarketDelta platform connects with many of the top brokerage companies to allow for trade automation. MarketDelta also offers many different customizable data feeds for an additional fee.