Bookmap: the one tool I never trade without.

Bookmap is order flow software that draws the order book as a heatmap: every resting limit order at every price, over time, with the trades that hit them on top. I’ve used it for years, I own a lifetime licence, and it’s on my screen every session, on four charts at once: NQ, ES, gold and crude.

I have traded without it. I’ve also assembled flat-pack furniture without the instructions. Both technically worked.

$147 for your first quarter or $588 for the first year (then $297 a quarter or $948 a year), 14-day money back on this offer. Prices checked 7 November 2026. All plans and prices. The free tier is a look at the software, not live futures.

Affiliate link. Bookmap pays me a commission if you subscribe; it costs you nothing extra, and I was paying full price for years before the link existed.

What’s on my Bookmap screen?

This is my actual layout, not a demo. ES, the last hour into the close, with everything I look at numbered. Click it for full size.

• 1. The heatmap. Resting limit orders at every price. I’m watching whether the size at my level stays, grows, or vanishes as price approaches. Size that holds is a wall. Size that pulls is a trap.
• 2. The bubbles. Large executed trades. A cluster of green at a VWAP Bounce zone is buyers stepping in where the system says they should. Red bubbles into a wall that doesn’t move is absorption, and absorption is the first sign of strength I want before the entry. More on this →
• 3. Icebergs and stops. Blue icons are icebergs, hidden size that keeps refilling at one price. Red stop-sign icons are stop runs. An iceberg sitting on my level is the best confirmation on the screen. Stops being run through it is the warning. More on this →
• 4. Liquidity changes. Yellow arrows mark a large block of limit orders added to a level, or pulled from it. Size added at my level is a wall being built. Size pulled just before price arrives is the trap. More on this →
• 5. Outside liquidity. The thick walls above and below the current range. They’re my targets when I’m in, and my traps when price rotates toward them with no aggression behind it. More on this →
• 6. CVD on several timeframes. Cumulative volume delta on the bottom panel. The fast line tells me who’s winning right now. The slow line tells me who’s been winning. When they disagree at a level, I wait. More on this →
• 7. The order book (COB). The live book, level by level. Same information as the heatmap, in numbers, for the few ticks that matter at the entry.
• 8. Session volume profile (SVP). Where today’s volume has actually traded, with the point of control. More on this →
• 9. Market Pulse. The alert widgets. They flag order-book and volume imbalance before I’ve gone looking for it, which matters when my eyes are on the chart and my ears are on TickStrike. Orderbook Imbalance → · Volume Imbalance →

What does Bookmap show that a candle chart can’t?

How I use Bookmap order flow with the VWAP Wave System™

Bookmap is a confirmation tool on this desk, in the strict sense. The VWAP Wave System gives me the level and the setup; Bookmap gets a vote after that. It can veto a trade. It has never once generated one.

At VWAP and the bands I’m looking for one of two pictures. Absorption: a wall that keeps getting hit and doesn’t move. Or liquidity pulling just before price arrives. The first is a wall, the second is a trap, and most of my screen exists to tell them apart sooner.

Four Bookmap charts run at once: NQ, ES, gold (GC) and crude (CL). That’s a lot of blinking lights for one person, which is why the add-ons in the library below are on my screen: they do the watching I can’t.

The order never changes: setup first, condition named, grade assigned, and then the heatmap gets its say. If there’s no setup at VWAP or a band, nothing on this screen gets me into a trade. More on the whole day in How I Trade.

Days Bookmap decided the trade

• The Model Trade and the One That Got Away With It (15 October, Globex): everything aligned on the first trade, with Bookmap, time and sales and cumulative delta all pointing down.
• Six Minutes at Three O’Clock (5 November, RTH): CVD and TickStrike were the confirmation for the day’s trades.

$147 for your first quarter or $588 for the first year (then $297 a quarter or $948 a year), 14-day money back on this offer. Prices checked 7 November 2026. All plans and prices. The free tier is a look at the software, not live futures.

Which Bookmap plan?

Data is extra on every paid tier. The full table, lifetime prices and the data fees are on Which Bookmap plan?.

The Bookmap Library

One page per add-on on my screen: what it draws, how I read it, which plan has it. My own screenshots and settings are being added page by page.

Questions people ask

Is Bookmap worth it?

For futures order flow, yes, once you have a setup for it to confirm. Without a setup it’s a very expensive way to watch lights. Learn your setup on plain charts first; add Bookmap when you’re naming the condition at every level.

How long does Bookmap take to learn?

A few weeks before it stops looking like abstract art. The walls and the pulls start to look obvious after a handful of sessions. Bookmap’s 4-hour order flow course is included on every tier, the free one too.

Does Bookmap run on a Mac?

Yes: macOS 11 or higher. Windows needs 64-bit Windows 8 or higher and at least 8 GB of RAM; Linux has limited support. You can install it on several computers and run it on one at a time.

Is the free version of Bookmap useful for futures?

As a look at the software, yes: Digital is free, no card, with live crypto and delayed futures and stocks. For live futures you need Global or higher, plus a data feed.

Why is there a separate Bookmap data fee?

Exchange data isn’t part of the subscription. CME depth through BookmapData is $34 a month per exchange or $79 for the CME bundle; dxFeed and Rithmic are similar. The full list.

Does Bookmap work with my prop firm or broker?

Bookmap takes data from Rithmic, dxFeed and its own BookmapData, and trades through Rithmic, Tradovate and others. If your prop firm gives you Rithmic, Bookmap can use it; ask the firm whether that data is full depth. Trading from the Bookmap chart needs Global Plus or Premium.

Do I need Bookmap Premium?

Not to start. Global Plus covers most of what’s on my screen. Premium bundles the MBO add-ons and Options Strike; you can also buy those one at a time on the Bookmap Marketplace.

Is there a free trial or a refund?

There’s no free trial of the paid tiers; the free route is Digital. Paid subscriptions are non-refundable, except through the Special Offers link, which carries a 14-day money-back guarantee for first-time use.

Try it on your own screen

The offer is the cheapest way into the tier I’d pick, with a 14-day money-back guarantee. The free tier is the cheapest way to find out whether you like looking at it.

$147 for your first quarter or $588 for the first year (then $297 a quarter or $948 a year), 14-day money back on this offer. Prices checked 7 November 2026. All plans and prices. The free tier is a look at the software, not live futures.