Footprint Imbalance Bubbles (Bookmap)

The Footprint Imbalance Bubbles (Bookmap) indicator visualizes order flow dynamics by identifying price levels where aggressive market orders significantly outweigh limit orders. By transforming footprint data into intuitive bubbles, users can quickly identify liquidity sweeps, significant market participant activity, and the overall quality of price movements directly on the chart.

Usage

The Footprint Imbalance Bubbles (Bookmap) tool is used to pinpoint high-conviction trades within individual candles. Unlike standard candle analysis, it looks inside the bar to find specific "imbalances"—where one side of the market is substantially more aggressive than the other.

• Size Scaling Mode: This mode mimics classic order flow visualizations where larger bubbles indicate higher total volume. It is effective for identifying "Whale" activity and major liquidity areas.
• Transparency Scaling Mode: This acts as a heatmap where bubbles remain a consistent size but become more opaque as volume increases. This is useful for traders who want to see volume intensity without cluttering the price action.
• Point of Control (POC): The indicator can plot a stepped line representing the price level with the highest volume for each bar, helping traders track the migration of value throughout the session.

Details

The indicator utilizes TradingView's request.footprint function to access tick-level data. It calculates imbalances by comparing buy volume to sell volume at each price tick (or aggregate of ticks). An imbalance is flagged when the volume ratio exceeds a user-defined threshold (e.g., 3:1).

Requirement: This script requires a TradingView plan that supports Footprint Charts (Essential, Plus, or Premium). Additionally, footprint data history is typically limited to approximately 5 days; replaying bars beyond this period or looking too far back in history may result in inaccurate or missing bubble data.

Settings

General Settings

• Ticks per Row: Aggregates price ticks into rows. A value of 1 provides maximum detail, while higher values (5+) are better for high-priced or volatile assets like BTC or NQ.
• Show POC Line: Toggles the visibility of the Point of Control line.

Bubble Filters

• Imbalance Ratio: Sets the required strength of an imbalance. A ratio of 3.0 means one side must have 3x the volume of the other.
• Min Volume Filter: Sets the minimum total volume required at a price level to generate a bubble, helping filter out market noise.
• Min Delta Filter: Requires the net difference between buying and selling volume to meet a specific threshold.

Visual Settings

• Volume Indicator Mode: Switches between Size Scaling and Transparency Scaling.
• Auto-Scale Max Volume: Automatically adjusts bubble scaling based on the highest volume bubble currently visible on the screen.
• Manual Max Volume: Sets a fixed volume target for the largest bubble size (used when Auto-Scale is off).

FAQ

How do I access Footprint Imbalance Bubbles (Bookmap)?

You can get access on the LuxAlgo Library for charting platforms like TradingView, MetaTrader (MT4/MT5), and NinjaTrader for free.

Why are the bubbles not appearing on my chart?

Ensure your TradingView subscription supports Footprint data. If you are on a Basic plan, or if you are looking at historical data older than ~5 days, the footprint data required to generate bubbles may not be available.

What is the difference between Size Scaling and Transparency Scaling?

Size Scaling changes the physical diameter of the bubble based on volume, whereas Transparency Scaling changes how solid the color appears. Use Size Scaling for a "Bookmap" look and Transparency Scaling for a cleaner "Heatmap" style.