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Orderbook Imbalance Confirmation

Confirm directional trades using L2 orderbook pressure

Live Suitability Check

WAIT Imbalance (+0.705) or regime (neutral) not strong enough.
Regime: neutral
Vol: high
Composite: +0.029
Funding: -0.051
Imbalance: +0.705

What This Strategy Does

Orderbook imbalance measures whether buy or sell pressure dominates the near-mid orderbook. When imbalance aligns with your directional thesis, it increases the probability of a successful trade.

Works when: Works best in trending markets (risk-on or risk-off regime) when imbalance exceeds ±0.3. The 5-minute horizon has 64% hit rate.
Fails when: Fails during low-volume periods (weekends, holidays) and when spoofing distorts the book. Also less reliable for horizons >4h.

Backtest Summary

Sharpe Ratio
1.5
Win Rate
64%
Max Drawdown
-5.1%
Risk Level
Low–Medium
Period: 2025-03 to 2026-03 · Time horizon: 5m – 1h

Entry/Exit Checklist

  • ✅ Imbalance > +0.3 (for long) or < -0.3 (for short)
  • ✅ Regime is trending (not neutral/mean-reverting)
  • ✅ Composite score aligns with imbalance direction
  • ✅ No major liquidation levels nearby
  • ⚠️ Check for spoofing (rapid order cancellations)
  • ⚠️ Reduce size during low-volume periods

Math & Logic

Imbalance = (Bid Depth − Ask Depth) / (Bid + Ask)
Entry: |Imbalance| > 0.3 AND regime confirms direction
Target: +1σ move in imbalance direction
Stop: Imbalance flips sign

Signal History — 24h

500 data points · alpha_imbalance_deep

Required Signals

Orderbook ImbalanceRegimeComposite ScoreWhale Flow

API Endpoints

curl "https://algotick.dev/v1/signals/composite"
curl "https://algotick.dev/v1/signals/volatility"

Datasets for Backtesting

📁 Orderbook📁 Imbalance📁 Trades

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