Reading order flow: what the book tells you that candles don't

A candlestick is a summary — open, high, low, close. By the time you read it, the move is over. Order flow looks at the layer underneath: the resting bids and asks, and the aggressive buying and selling pushing price around.

Imbalance and intent

When aggressive buying consistently outweighs selling at a level, that’s order-flow imbalance — a hint that demand is absorbing supply. It doesn’t predict the future, but it adds context candles can’t: who is in control right now.

Use it as confluence, not a crystal ball

• Pair flow signals with structure — a reclaim plus positive imbalance is stronger than either alone.
• Respect data quality — thin books and stale data lie. Good systems mute unreliable readings.
• Always keep your stop — flow improves odds, it never removes risk.

Hunter AI folds order-book imbalance and flow into its signal scoring, with staleness gates that ignore unreliable data — so the context is real, not noise.