Absorption
Detect hidden liquidity where aggressive orders are absorbed instead of moving the market.
Absorption reveals where aggressive buyers or sellers hit the market with force — but price refuses to move. This is a signature of hidden liquidity: large passive orders absorbing incoming pressure. These zones often precede reversals, failed breakouts, trapped traders or strong continuation moves.
Footprint‑Secrets detects absorption tick‑by‑tick inside each candle, classifies it as buyer‑ or seller‑driven, and highlights it directly on the footprint grid.
How Absorption Is Detected
A precise algorithm scanning every footprint price level for hidden liquidity.
The system evaluates every footprint bucket and compares aggressive volume (bid/ask) against passive absorption. When aggressive orders hit the tape but price does not move beyond a threshold, the bucket is marked as absorption.
Both live and historical absorption are supported. Historical detection is tick‑accurate, ensuring that even fast absorption events are captured reliably.
Absorption Modes
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Live Absorption | Detects absorption inside the currently forming candle. |
| Confirmed Absorption | Marks absorption only after future candles confirm that price failed to move. |
| Hybrid Mode | Combines live and confirmed absorption for maximum clarity. |
Buyer & Seller Absorption
Identify which side is absorbing aggressive orderflow.
Buyer Absorption occurs when aggressive selling (bid volume) hits the tape, but price refuses to move lower. This indicates strong passive buy orders absorbing the flow.
Seller Absorption is the opposite: aggressive buying (ask volume) is absorbed by passive sell orders, preventing price from moving higher.
Both types are highlighted directly on the footprint grid with dedicated colors.
Absorption Types
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Buyer Absorption | Bid‑side aggression absorbed by passive buyers. |
| Seller Absorption | Ask‑side aggression absorbed by passive sellers. |
| Persistent Absorption | Absorption that remains marked even after the candle closes. |
Visual Example: Buyer & Seller Absorption
Confirmed Absorption
Validate absorption by checking whether price failed to move afterward.
Confirmed Absorption checks future candles to determine whether price moved beyond a threshold. If aggressive orders were absorbed and price did not break through, the absorption is confirmed.
This mode filters out noise and focuses on meaningful absorption that truly halted the auction.
Confirmed Absorption Modes
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Strict Confirmation | Requires price to stay within a defined range for several bars. |
| Soft Confirmation | Allows small deviations but still requires price to hold. |
| Hybrid Confirmation | Combines live detection with confirmation logic. |
Visual Example: Confirmed Absorption
Chart Rendering
Clean, unobtrusive highlights directly inside the footprint grid.
Absorption is drawn directly inside the footprint bucket as a colored highlight. Buyer and seller absorption use different colors, and persistent absorption remains visible even after the candle closes.
The renderer automatically adapts to zoom, scroll and custom time modes, ensuring that absorption remains aligned with the footprint grid at all times.
Visual Example: Absorption Rendering
Next Chapters
Continue exploring the core modules of Footprint‑Secrets.
