Trading Tools Lab

Level II Viewer

Patrick — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:05:19 +0000

All Level II displays have looked pretty much the same – until now.

This new Level II display presents market data in a visual and dynamic way. It allows you to visualize momentum and market shifts, to see patterns in the data that are invisible to those using a standard Level II display.

How does it work?

Simply select the exchange and instrument you’re interested in, and the tool will begin to show an animated display of the bids and asks as they are entered.

The vertical axis represents volume and the height of the various bars represent the total bids (in blue) and asks (in red) currently available in the market.

The horizontal axis represents price, and the bid/ask bars will travel to the left as price decreases or to the right as price increases. Note that the actual prices are not yet displayed. This is an early beta, and price displays will be coming soon, as will horizontal scrolling and many other features.

View it in action

The best way to understand what this tool does is to see it in action. The following short video shows how to connect the tool to a data feed and to begin viewing a data stream.

Level II Viewer Prototype

Patrick — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:46:23 +0000

Check out this prototype for a new Level II viewer. The purpose of the viewer is to display the struggle between buyers and sellers and give traders a more intuitive sense of where the market is heading.

While obviously a bare bones implementation, this should be enough to convey the concept. There are many things that could be added, including:

Show detailed price info.
Allow horizontal (price) axis to be scaled based on a user defined measure of volatility.
User defined markers on price axis to indicate various interesting points (highs, lows, pivot points, etc.)
Show market makers in different colors, allow market makers to be filtered.
A loop mode, where the last n bids/asks are repeatedly displayed (think weather radar loop) to give a sense of market direction. This would be especially useful for less actively traded instruments.
Trade on the chart by clicking and dragging targets, stop loss levels, etc.

So what do you think? Would this tool contribute to your trading edge? This site is all about developing software in collaboration with users, so fire away!

Welcome to Trading Tools Lab!

Patrick — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 21:17:11 +0000

The purpose of this blog is to create new software tools for traders by listening to what you have to say. I believe the best software is created when software developers and users collaborate, and that’s what this site is all about.

I’ll be posting prototypes of ideas that I have and what happens from that point is up to you. If you think an idea sucks, it gets tossed. If you like something, well maybe it’s time to turn the prototype into a reality. And if you have your own idea for a trading tool, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.