Whale Print — Signal Playbook

What it detects

A single unusually large aggressive print hits the tape (top-tier buy or sell notional) with the book leaning the same way — a large participant showing their hand.

How Whale Print paints across a heatmap row — the colour language it speaks on the live map.

How to play it

Use it as scanner context, not an automatic entry:

• Read it as a footprint, not a trigger — note the side and the level.
• Repeated same-side whale prints matter more than one.
• Use it to confirm conviction behind a move you’re already watching.
• Combine with absorption: a whale print that fails to move price is telling.

Confirmation

What strengthens the read:

• Additional same-side prints follow.
• Price moves the print’s direction shortly after.
• Book pressure stays on the print’s side.

Invalidation

What kills it:

• Price doesn’t budge (the print was absorbed).
• An opposite-side print immediately answers it.
• It’s a lone outlier with no context.

Risk & honest evidence

Respect the limits:

• Large prints are direction-agnostic on their own — they can mark tops and bottoms.
• A single print is the weakest form of evidence here.
• Evidence: grounded in market-microstructure research. vyx's own live backtest is still accruing — treat this as scanner context, not a proven edge.