Trading & Markets
DOM (Depth of Market)
The price ladder showing resting buy and sell orders at each level around the market. The futures trader's order-entry screen and a live map of liquidity.
In plain English
The DOM (also called the ladder or Level 2) lists bids and offers stacked by price with their resting size. Futures traders click the ladder to place, move, and cancel orders instantly, which is why platform DOM quality matters so much to scalpers.
Beyond order entry it is a reading tool: size appearing and vanishing, levels absorbing hits without breaking, and thinning books before fast moves are all DOM tells. Order flow trading is essentially the disciplined study of this screen.
- A trader watches 900 contracts resting on the ES bid absorb three waves of selling without dropping, then joins the bid with a tight stop: the classic absorption entry.