Imbalances and stacked imbalances
An imbalance is a price inside a footprint bar where one side traded at least three times the other. AXL Charts compares diagonally: buying at the ask at one price against selling at the bid one price below. Three or more in a row on the same side make a stacked imbalance.
Compare the right two numbers
At any moment the best bid sits one price below the best offer. A buyer who lifts the offer at 24,050 is competing with a seller who hits the bid at 24,045, not with someone trading at 24,050.
So the standard comparison is diagonal: each row's buying at the ask against the selling at the bid on the row below. It compares the orders that were really facing each other.
The simpler horizontal comparison, ask against bid on the same row, is also offered in AXL Charts. It compares a buyer and a seller who never met at that price, so most traders start with diagonal.
How lopsided is lopsided
When the buying is at least three times the selling it is compared with, the row is a buy imbalance and its ask side is marked. When the selling is at least three times the buying, it is a sell imbalance and the lower row's bid side is marked.
Three is the usual ratio and AXL Charts' starting point. A minimum volume stops two nearly empty rows from counting as a 10-to-1 imbalance. Both are yours to change.
Stacked imbalances
One imbalance can be noise: a single burst of orders at one price. Three or more on touching rows, on the same side, are a stacked imbalance. That is a band of prices where one side overwhelmed the other again and again.
The rows must touch. A price with no trades in between breaks the run, because a stack across a gap never happened.
Why a stack matters later
A stacked buy imbalance marks where buyers were in a hurry. When price comes back to that band, those buyers often defend it, so it tends to act as support. A stacked sell imbalance tends to act as resistance.
If price trades back through a stack and stays there, the urgency that made it has gone, and the band has failed. Read stacks the way you read value area edges: as places to watch, not places that must hold.
Imbalances in AXL Charts
Imbalances and stacked imbalances are on from the start in AXL Charts' Order Flow chart. In its settings you choose diagonal, horizontal or both, the ratio, the minimum volume and how many rows make a stack. Stacks can be carried to the right until price comes back, and an alert can tell you when a new stack forms.
Imbalances read the split between buying and selling, which NSE data does not label and AXL Charts infers. Treat them as a strong tendency, not an exact count.
Watch
Order Flow Imbalances Explained: The Double-Edged Sword of Footprint chart
Where buyers and sellers turn truly aggressive on a footprint chart - and why the same imbalance can start a new move or mark traders rushing for the exit.
Watch on YouTube ↗Questions
What is an imbalance on a footprint chart?
A price where one side traded at least about three times the other, usually comparing buying at the ask with selling at the bid one price below.
Diagonal or horizontal imbalance: which is better?
Diagonal is the standard, because it compares the buyer and seller who were facing each other across the spread. Horizontal compares the same row, which is simpler but less meaningful.
What is a stacked imbalance?
Three or more imbalances on touching rows, on the same side: a band where one side overwhelmed the other repeatedly.
Are stacked imbalances support and resistance?
Often. Stacked buying tends to act as support when price returns, stacked selling as resistance. A stack that price trades through and holds beyond has failed.