What a footprint shows
A normal candle hides what happened inside it. A footprint chart opens the candle up: at each price level it prints how much volume hit the bid (aggressive selling) versus the ask (aggressive buying). The difference is delta — net aggression at that price. You can suddenly see exhaustion, absorption, and where the real fight happened, all inside a single bar.
delta = askVolume − bidVolume (per price, per candle) Ask-side volume is aggressive buying (lifting offers); bid-side volume is aggressive selling (hitting bids). Positive delta = buyers paid up; negative = sellers pressed. Summed up a candle, it is the bar’s net flow.
What traders read in it
The classic reads: a buying climax (huge ask volume at the high that fails to push price) signals exhaustion; absorption (heavy aggression at a level that price refuses to leave) signals a large passive order soaking it up; and delta divergence (price makes a new high but delta does not) warns the move is thinning.
A footprint zooms one market into one candle. vyx is the opposite lens: it scans the whole field. The same flow a footprint shows — net aggression, absorption, exhaustion — is exactly what vyx’s CVD, delta-absorption, and aggressive-sweep signals paint across 300+ Hyperliquid markets at once. Use a footprint to dissect one chart; use vyx to find which charts are worth dissecting.
Further reading
Related
FAQ
What is the difference between a footprint chart and a volume profile?
A footprint shows bid vs. ask volume at each price inside every candle, so you see net aggression (delta) bar by bar. A volume profile aggregates total volume at each price over a whole period, ignoring the buy/sell split. Footprint = flow per candle; volume profile = where volume rests over time.
Do you need a footprint chart to read order flow?
No. A footprint is one way to visualize executed flow. Cumulative volume delta, the tape, and absorption signals capture the same information — net aggression and where it gets absorbed — without the per-cell grid.
Does vyx have footprint charts?
No. vyx is a cross-market microstructure scanner, not a single-chart footprint tool. It surfaces the same underlying flow — CVD, delta absorption, aggressive sweeps — across 300+ markets, so you can spot the events a footprint would show and then inspect them.
See it on the live map
Scan order-book pressure across 300+ Hyperliquid markets in real time.
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