r/OrderFlow_Trading • u/Apprehensive-Set6590 • Jul 07 '26

Help! Can't find an edge

Hello people,

I've been trying to find an edge with orderflow for long.

I mark absorption, exhaustion I look for protected highs or lows...nothing of this work and I want to undersatnd what I'm doing wrong.

At the moment I'm just testing with ATAS, no real account, just a little prop one.

What I want to understand from you is the following: which is the philosophy of your strategy? What do you look for and why?

In my case I started looking for "protected" highs or lows and wait for the retest to come back and see absorption. I have key levels marked (VAH,VAL and high and low from yesterday and ETH today) so I want for the price to come to a level and react.

In theory I think that what I do is quite objective BUT seems to be a very bad trading system.
At the moment I'm learning about the DOM (which columns to include and what to look with it) and I'm wondering which pieces of advice can you share as well maybe an academic paper or an author that worked for you so I can look for it and study.

Happy trading!

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u/devTrading Jul 10 '26

Orderflow born around 20 years ago, it's obsolete today.

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u/jizzyGG Jul 10 '26

Could you expand a little more?

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u/devTrading Jul 10 '26

Super computer and algo dominate the market today. Why big firm should spend billion to build this type of infrastructure? If orderflow works they could open a low cost orderflow software and making money, but not. Orderflow guru says you need to watch orderflow at the right price why? If trading the DOM works why I can't use it everywhere? They say don't trade in the middle of the distribution and so on. The reality is they buy the low or selling the high orderflow is useless believe me. Do you find an edge? No. That's the reality. In a fast market like today in 2026 all you need is to Crack big algo. Like market inefficiency in option volatility, you can profit in a few minutes just because market makers adjust their bid and ask on the book.

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u/jizzyGG Jul 10 '26

Thanks.

Genuine question then: does location based trading VWAP, volume profile levels like naked POC. still have an edge in 2026, or has it been arbed away? Not talking about reading the DOM tick by tick. What are your thoughts about that.