Connect execution with price progress
Look at aggressive buying or selling within a specific price area and time window. A bright order-book zone alone is insufficient. It shows offered liquidity, not yet executions against that liquidity.
Document a synthetic level
Suppose 600 contracts execute at the ask and 150 at the bid between 5,000.00 and 5,000.25 over ten seconds. Delta for this window is +450. At the same time, price does not move above 5,000.25. This supports an absorption hypothesis, not a claim about a seller’s identity.
Save a second observation after the first contact. Did trading move higher, did price retreat, or did executions stay in the same area? Keep examples where the suspected level later breaks as well.
Collect comparable cases
Use the same price span, time resolution and volume basis to keep cases comparable. Record data gaps. A recording made after an event cannot establish what liquidity was visible beforehand if that history was not retained.
Write the hypothesis before the outcome
Separate three fields in the review: the observation available then, the expected behavior and the actual path. Define beforehand what would contradict the hypothesis. This turns a striking chart into a description that can be checked.
Sources and methodology
Sources explain concepts or the respective provider’s product descriptions. Worked examples are original and synthetic. Verify current contract specifications before use.