Updated · first published
What is The Speed of Tape?
The tape is the stream of trades scrolling by. Speed of Tape measures its pace: how many executions per second, and at what intensity. A calm market ticks trades off; a market under tension fires them in bursts. Volume says how much; speed says with what urgency.
What DeepCharts does better
DeepCharts measures that cadence continuously and integrates it natively with the rest of the order-flow read, footprint, delta, DOM, rather than treating it as a separate gadget. An abnormal pace spike, dozens of trades in a fraction of a second, jumps out and immediately cross-checks with what liquidity and delta show.
Using it day to day
Day to day, use it as an urgency detector near key levels. Most useful on fast, highly liquid instruments, NQ and ES in the US session, FDAX in the European session, where execution bursts and HFT activity are frequent and meaningful.
Example: the NQ nears a high, the tape fires up violently (a burst of market buys), then price stalls sharply. The last wave of aggressors just got absorbed: a climax. The abrupt slowdown that follows confirms exhaustion.
⚠ The trap to avoid
The trap: taking every speed spike as a reversal. A fast tape accompanies an exhaustion climax as easily as a continuation impulse. It's how price reacts right after the spike, stall or continue, that gives the direction.
Combine it with
Combine it with delta (the effort) and Deep Trades (large activity): speed tells the urgency, delta tells the side, Deep Trades tells who's hitting hard.
FAQ
What is speed of tape?+
The rate at which trades execute (count and intensity per unit of time). It measures market urgency, where volume alone measures only quantity.
How do I spot HFT activity with it?+
Through abnormal cadence spikes, bursts of executions in a fraction of a second, far above the usual pace, typical of high-frequency algorithms.
Does a fast tape signal a reversal?+
Not always: it can mark an exhaustion climax or a continuation impulse. How price reacts right after the spike decides: hence reading it with delta and liquidity.
Which time window should I pick?+
Five to ten seconds for scalping, where reactivity matters most. Fifteen to thirty seconds for swing trading, where a bit of smoothing helps ignore short term noise. Number of seconds in the Mode tab sets this window.
Should I use Volume or Orders as input data?+
Volume is recommended by default: it is the most direct measure of activity. Orders counts the number of transactions rather than traded contracts, a different read useful as a complement, not a replacement.
What does Reversed trace do?+
It flips the vertical orientation of the plot. It is a display preference, disabled by default, with no effect on the speed calculation itself.
Tutorial & settingsSpeed of Tape: the complete settings, tab by tab
+A vertical histogram under the chart that measures how fast the market is moving. The time window is the one setting everything else builds on.
Speed of Tape measures how fast trades are executing, over a rolling time window. It shows up in a separate panel under the price chart, as vertical bars: green or turquoise for positive delta, red or pink for negative delta, with each bar's height showing intensity. This tutorial goes through every configuration tab, with the time window as the central setting the others build around.
- The Speed of Tape indicator added to the chart, in its own panel under the price
Step by step
- 01
Set the Data Settings section (Settings tab)
Input data chooses between Volume and Orders: Volume measures traded contracts, the most direct measure and the recommended default; Orders counts the number of transactions, a different read of the same acceleration. Min filter (one by default) and Max filter (zero by default) bound what enters the calculation, zero on Max filter meaning no limit rather than a zero limit.
The Data Settings section of the Settings tab, with Input data, Min filter and Max filter.© DeepCharts - 02
Set the time window in the Mode section (Settings tab)
Number of seconds sets the rolling window the speed is calculated over, ten seconds by default. A short window, five to ten seconds, increases reactivity and suits scalping. A longer window, fifteen to thirty seconds, smooths the data and suits swing trading better. Displayed value set to Total aggregates all the window's activity into a single measure.
The Mode section of the Settings tab, with Displayed value and Number of seconds.© DeepCharts - 03
Set the size and scale in the Plot Settings tab
Bars to display sets how many historical bars show, three by default, between one and ten recommended depending on screen width. Min scale value bounds the bottom of the vertical axis, zero by default. Both settings live in the General section of the Plot Settings tab, not in a separate tab of their own.
The General section of the Plot Settings tab, with Bars to display and Min scale value.© DeepCharts - 04
Set the appearance in the Plot Settings tab
Still inside Plot Settings, the Candle section sets Line width (one pixel by default), and a second General section further down offers Reversed trace, disabled by default: it flips the vertical orientation of the plot, a display preference with no effect on the calculation. A second Candle section then sets Positive delta and Negative delta, green or turquoise against red or pink by default, each with a secondary variant to tell apart a different intensity within the same side.
The Candle and General sections of the Plot Settings tab, with Line width, Reversed trace and the four delta colors.© DeepCharts
Settings, tab by tab
Volume recommended by default, the most direct measure.
On the capture; bounds the low end of what enters the calculation.
0 means no limit, not a zero limit.
Aggregates all the window's activity into a single measure.
5 to 10 seconds for scalping, 15 to 30 seconds for swing trading.
Between 1 and 10 recommended depending on screen width.
Bounds the bottom of the panel's vertical axis.
Second General section in the same tab; flips the vertical orientation, no effect on the calculation.
Thickness of the plotted bars.
Second Candle section in the same tab; each side has a secondary color to shade intensity.
⚠ Traps to avoid
- Picking too short a window on a thin instrument. The result turns noisy, close to random, for lack of enough trades for the measure to mean anything over just a few seconds.
- Picking too long a window on a very liquid instrument. The excessive smoothing hides the very acceleration you were trying to spot.
- Reading Max filter at 0 as a total exclusion. It is the opposite: 0 means no limit applied, every transaction counts toward the calculation.
Want to get better at order flow?
We discuss flow, liquidity and our trades live, every day, on the OrderFlowFutures Discord. Join us, it's free.
Join the Discord for free5 online·46 members·Free · instant access