Depth of Market

The Depth of Market (DOM) displays bids and asks for a particular instrument at the best prices (closest to the market) at the moment. The DOM window also shows the volume of each order.

The Dept of Market is different on the exchange and over-the-counter markets:

• If an instrument is traded in the exchange mode, in which related trading operations are sent to an external trading system (an exchange), the DOM features real prices and order volumes from market participants.
• If an instrument is traded in the over-the-counter (OTC) market, the Depth of Market can be formed based on the quotes of the broker, who may provide different prices depending on the buy or sell volume. If the broker does not provide volumes, the DOM window functions as a scalping tool, which allows placing of market and pending orders with a single click. In this case, the Depth of Market displays price levels calculated based on the Bid and Ask prices using the price change step.

For more information about prices in the Depth of Market, please see the Price Data section.

To open the Depth of Market window of a financial instrument, click "Depth of Market" in its context menu in "Quotes".

Market Operations #

A market operation is buying/selling a financial instrument at the best price currently offered on the market. Market operations can be performed via the Depth of Market using Buy and Sell buttons below.

From the Market Depth – execute the appropriate trading command in the Market Depth of the required symbol while specifying the required volume. This request to execute a trade operation will be immediately sent to the server without specifying any extra conditions.

The volume must be specified before performing an operation.

An example of a market operation

Below is an example of a market operation: buying 50 lots of EURUSD.

Sending the Request

Let's specify the volume of 50 lots and click Buy:

Executing the Request

The above screenshot shows that only 30 lots at the best price of 1.08741 were available at the moment of execution. Fill or Kill execution mode is used by default when sending market requests from the Depth of Market. It means that the request should be performed in the specified volume. If the specified volume is not available in the market, the request will not be executed.

The necessary volume is available in the market but at a higher price. The requested volume will be reached using the best price offers. You can view the history of order execution in the History tab.

The screenshot shows that the order was executed by two deals: 30 lots at 1.08741 and 20 lots at 1.08744.

Closing Positions

The Depth of Market allows you to view open positions by their symbol, as well as close them quickly if necessary. Position status is shown at the upper section of the Depth of Market.

To close a position, tap Close at the bottom part of the Depth of Market. Click on it to close your position without any further confirmations.

Closing Positions in Hedging Mode

If an account uses the hedging mode, a user can have multiple open positions of the same instrument. The current selected position, which will be closed by a tap on "Close", is shown at the top of the Market Depth. Tap on the position if you want to choose another one.

Trader Requests #

Placing a trader request means creating a pending order to buy/sell a financial instrument at a specified price. 4 types of pending orders: Buy Limit, Sell Limit, Buy Stop and Sell Stop can be placed from the Depth of Market. The conventional way of performing trade operations should be used to place Buy Stop Limit and Sell Stop Limit orders.

Placing an Order

To place a pending order, click on the bid/ask volume cell having a required price:

After you tap on the appropriate field, a request for placing a pending order will be immediately sent to the server. The order will be displayed in the Depth of Market upon successful placement. As soon as there is a market participant ready to sell the financial instrument at the specified price, the order will be filled and will turn into a position.

Transferring Orders to an External Trading System

Pending orders may or may not be transferred to an external trading system depending on broker's symbol settings. For example, a broker may transfer Limit orders directly to an external trading system while other order types (Stop and Stop Limit ones) will be processed in MetaTrader 5:

• When reaching the stop price specified in a Buy Stop or Sell Stop order, an appropriate market operation is executed.
• When reaching the stop price specified in a Buy Stop Limit or Sell Stop Limit order, an appropriate limit request is executed, which will be visible to other market participants.

Interface: Current Position #

The upper section contains the data on the current open position, if there is any.

• Symbol name
• Position direction – Buy or Sell
• Profit/loss

Use the "Close" button at the bottom of the Depth of Market to close the current position.

Lots/Amount button allows you to switch quotes volume display mode in the Depth of Market.

Interface: List of Requests

The main part of DOM is occupied by the list of trade requests which are closest to the market. The upper part (colored in red) displays bids, while the lower part (colored in blue) displays asks. List of requests is divided into three columns:

• Volume – total volume of requests at a specified price;
• Price – request price;
• Trading – this column displays trader's current trade requests and stop levels (Stop Loss and Take Profit). For example:

• BL 10 – Buy Limit order of 10 lots;
• SL 5 – Sell Limit order of 5 lots;
• BS 1 – Buy Stop order of 1 lot;
• SS 3 – Sell Stop order of 3 lots;
• sl 1 – Stop Loss of a position of 1 lot;
• tp 2 – Take Profit of a position of 1 lot.

Tap to switch to the Depth of Market view mode: only the list of orders is displayed in this mode, while all trading elements are hidden.

Tap to switch between order volume display modes in the Depth of Market: in lots or in units.

Tap to edit the current symbol's position.

Interface: Trading Commands #

Traders can send market and limit (Buy Limit and Sell Limit) orders.

Pending Orders

Buttons for placing pending orders are located at the right side of the Trading column. The order is placed at the price with a pressed button.

• – when you tap on this button in the area of Bid prices, a Buy Limit order is placed at the specified price. When you do the same in the area of Ask prices, a Buy Stop order is placed;
• – if this button is pressed in the Ask prices area, a Sell Limit order at a specified price will be placed; in case it is pressed in the Bid prices area, a Sell Stop order will be placed.

Trade settings

The upper part of DOM contains trade operation settings:

• sl – Stop Loss level is set for placed limit orders. This parameter is specified in points from the current price;
• vol – the volume of created market and limit orders in lots;
• tp – Take Profit level is set for placed limit orders. This parameter is specified in points from the current price.

Market orders

Market order commands are located below:

• Sell – make a Sell deal in the size specified in "vol" field at the best available price.
• Close – this button is enabled only if there is an open position for a selected financial instrument. It allows you to close the entire position at the best available price.
• Buy – make a Buy deal in the size specified in "vol" field at the best available price.