CQG Market Transparency

Four sets of tools are available: TradeFlow TM Charts and Studies Aggregated TradeFlow Charting Pre-Trade Analytics Order Ticker CQG has created innovative ways to use today’s market transparency of electronically-traded markets.

TradeFlow charts detail who the aggressor is, the buyer or the seller. TradeFlow bars’ attributes: The high and low of the individual TradeFlow bar are the best bid and the best ask price. The TradeFlow bar is color-coded to show the percentage of volume executed at the bid (selling) and at the ask (buying) prices. The brightness of the color-coding and the width of the TradeFlow bars are based on the current TradeFlow bar’s executed volume relative to the recent traded volume. Section 1: TradeFlow TM Charts and Studies

The TradeFlow bar is a graphical representation of traders’ action at the best bid and best ask price in the exchange’s order book. The TradeFlow bar’s low is the best bid and the high is the best ask price. On the last TradeFlow bar in this example, 461 contracts traded at the ask price and 62 contracts at the bid price. The TradeFlow bar is 88% green. The TradeFlow Volume study separates the traded volume at the ask (green histogram bars) from the traded volume into the bid (red histogram bars). TradeFlow Bars Key Benefit: Identify whether the last price was generated by a buyer or a seller. For example, the inside market may be climbing, but traders are hitting bids and are selling into the rally. You cannot see this information on standard charts.

TradeFlow On-Balance Volume TradeFlow On-Balance Volume is a running sum of trades at the ask minus trades at the bid price. This is an enhanced study compared to the classic On-Balance Volume line because TFOBV measures true buying and selling. Studies can be added to TradeFlow. Here, a stochastics oscillator is applied to the TradeFlow OBV line. Key Benefit: TradeFlow studies help identify the trend of buying and selling.

TradeFlow Custom Studies Elements of TradeFlow, such as executed bid volume and ask volume, can be the basis of custom studies. Here, two custom studies, TradeFlow Cross and TradeFlow Up Volume minus TradeFlow Down Volume, are displayed. This is the five-bar running sum of trades at the ask price (green line) versus the sum of trades at the bid price (red line). Notice the peak in buying when the market peaked. This oscillator is the difference between the two lines. Key Benefit: Design your own studies from elements of TradeFlow to monitor the market information you want.

Section 2: Aggregated TradeFlow Charting Aggregated TradeFlow Charts compress individual TradeFlow bars into single bars, providing more information in the same screen. Up to 20 bars can be aggregated. There are three ways to aggregate TradeFlow bars: Aggregate by bars Aggregate by range Aggregate by smoothing

Aggregated by TradeFlow Bars Key Benefit: Support and resistance levels can be easily identified. Here, aggregation by bars is set to five TradeFlow bars. Every time five basic individual TradeFlow bars are built, then one aggregated TradeFlow bar is completed. Up to 20 TradeFlow bars can be aggregated. Right-click on the TradeFlow bar to set the aggregation.

Aggregation by Price Range Key Benefit: More price action is compressed into the TradeFlow bars, providing a better view of the trend. Here, aggregation by range is set to three ticks - three ticks in price range, not three ticks of traded volume. All TradeFlow bars have a high-low range of three ticks. A new aggregated TradeFlow bar is not created until the high or low of the aggregated TradeFlow bar is violated. Time is not a factor, therefore, when the market is trading sideways, the price action will often be compressed into just a few TradeFlow bars. Still, the trend and key price levels are displayed.

Aggregation by Smoothing Key Benefit: Smoothing the TradeFlow bars reduces the noise about the trend of the market. Longer- term trends are highlighted by this technique. A proprietary algorithm smoothes the TradeFlow bars. The trend, as well as turning points, are highlighted by this aggregation technique.

Section 3: Pre-Trade Analytics Pre-Trade Analytics track traders’ actions in the exchange’s order book up to four price level queues away from the best bid and best ask prices. Four studies are available: DOMTracker DOMTracker Oscillator DOMActivity Older Orders Ratio

The DOMTracker calculates the sum of resting bids (the green line) four levels below the best bid price and the sum of resting offers (the red line) four levels above the best ask price in the order book. You can monitor whether traders are increasing their resting orders on either side of the market as the market makes its swings. DOMTracker Key Benefit: Make better trading decisions by monitoring traders’ actions in the order book.

The DOMTracker Oscillator is the difference between the readings of the resting bid orders and the resting ask orders from the DOMTracker study. Use the DOMTracker Oscillator to identify shifts in traders’ changes to their resting orders in the exchange’s order book. DOMTracker Oscillator Key Benefit: Access more information about resting order changes in the order book.

DOMActivity The DOMActivity study tracks changes in the resting bid and ask orders. The changes can be monitored based on actual contract or tick size. Key Benefit: Watch for changes in activity to see if traders are changing their working orders.

The Older Orders Ratio uses a trader-set time that orders have been resting in the order queue. The default time is set to sixty seconds. The ratios climb when more orders have been in the queue for longer than sixty seconds. Older Orders Ratio Key Benefit: Follow whether traders are letting orders rest or are becoming more aggressive in their trading.

The Order Ticker offers a detailed display of traders’ actions at the inside market and in the order book up to ten price levels away, depending on the exchange. Section 4: Order Ticker This section will cover: Details of the Order Ticker display The Order Ticker preferences Stacked Order Tickers

Order Ticker Details Key Benefit: See trades executed and orders placed, canceled, and modified. Order modified Order canceled The green boundary indicates the inside market climbed. The red boundary indicates the inside market dropped. Trades at the bid have bright red backgrounds. Orders placed have light-colored backgrounds. Red down arrow indicates the inside market dropped. Green up arrow indicates the inside market climbed. Inside market dropped Trades at the ask have bright green background colors. Order modified

Stacked Order Tickers Key Benefit: Set up Order Tickers to track large traders versus small traders. The top Order Ticker displays orders placed greater than 50 up to 100 and trades executed greater than 25 up to 50. The bottom Order Ticker displays orders placed greater than 100 and trades executed greater than 50. This example displays two order tickers: The amount of red in the two order tickers implies traders hitting bids and placing offers in the order book.

CQG, Inc. CQG, Inc. is the industry’s highest-performing solution to integrate market data, technical analysis, and trade routing. CQG’s data coverage includes futures, options, fixed income, foreign exchange, and equities exchanges worldwide as well as debt securities, reports, and indices. Founded in 1980, CQG is headquartered in Denver with sales and support offices worldwide. For more information, visit Customer Support: US UK +44 (0) Australia +61 (0) France +33 (0) Germany +49 (0) Japan +81 (0) Russia Singapore

Disclaimer Trading and investment carry a high level of risk, and CQG, Inc. does not make any recommendations for buying or selling any financial instruments. We offer educational information on ways to use our sophisticated CQG trading tools, but it is up to our customers and other readers to make their own trading and investment decisions or to consult with a registered investment advisor. © 2009 CQG, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. CQG, DOMTrader, SnapTrader, TFOBV, TFOBVO, and TFVOL are registered trademarks of CQG, Inc.