The Speed of Tape (instant) indicator measures the instantaneous speed at which trades are executed in the market by analyzing volume flow over a specified time window. It provides real-time insight into market activity intensity, helping traders identify periods of increased trading velocity that often coincide with significant price movements, breakouts, or institutional activity. By tracking how quickly volume accumulates within each bar, this indicator reveals the urgency and aggressiveness of market participants, making it valuable for scalping, momentum trading, and identifying potential acceleration or deceleration phases in market trends.

Settings of Use

Clicking on the indicator's settings icon will open its configuration window, within which it will be possible to make several choices regarding the functionality of the indicator itself.

Understanding the Speed of Tape Visualization

The Speed of Tape indicator displays as a vertical histogram in a separate panel below the main price chart. The visualization uses colored bars to represent trading velocity at each time period, with bar height indicating the intensity of tape speed and color showing the direction of order flow.

Bar Characteristics:

• Green/Teal Bars: Represent positive delta periods where buying pressure dominates. Taller green bars indicate rapid buying activity and aggressive market participation on the bid side.

• Red/Pink Bars: Represent negative delta periods where selling pressure dominates. Taller red bars indicate rapid selling activity and aggressive market participation on the offer side.

• Bar Height: Directly corresponds to the speed of tape - taller bars indicate higher trading velocity (more volume or orders executed per second), while shorter bars indicate lower trading velocity.

Trading Applications:

• Momentum Confirmation: Sudden spikes in tape speed (tall bars) often precede or confirm significant price movements, helping traders identify potential breakout or breakdown scenarios.

• Exhaustion Signals: A rapid decrease in tape speed after extended movement (bars becoming progressively shorter) may indicate momentum exhaustion and potential reversal points.

• Acceleration Phases: Progressively taller bars indicate accelerating market participation, which can signal strengthening trends and improved trade entry opportunities.

• Low Velocity Periods: Very short bars or gaps indicate low trading activity, suggesting consolidation phases or reduced institutional participation where price may be range-bound.
  
  

Plot Settings

Bars to show

Defines how many historical bars of Speed of Tape data will be displayed on the chart. The default value is 3. This parameter controls the visual history shown, allowing you to see recent tape speed patterns without cluttering the chart with excessive historical data. Fewer bars (1-3) focus on current activity, while more bars (5-10) provide context for comparing current speed against recent periods.

Scale min value

Sets the minimum value for the indicator's scale. The default value is 0. This parameter establishes the baseline for the visual representation of tape speed, ensuring the chart displays a consistent scale regardless of actual market activity levels. Setting this to 0 ensures all positive speed values are clearly visible above the baseline.

General (Candle Settings)

Line width

Adjusts the thickness of the candle or bar lines used to display tape speed. The default value is 1. Increasing this value makes the visual representation more prominent and easier to see, especially useful when multiple indicators are displayed simultaneously or when viewing charts on larger screens. Thicker lines provide better visibility for quick identification of speed changes.

Plot reversed

When enabled, reverses the vertical orientation of the indicator plot. This can be useful for visual preference or when organizing multiple indicators in a specific layout configuration. When disabled (default), the indicator displays in standard orientation with higher tape speeds shown as taller bars extending upward.

Delta Positive

Sets the color for bars representing positive delta periods, where buying volume or aggressive buying activity exceeds selling. The default color shown is green/teal. This color coding helps traders instantly identify periods of bullish tape speed and buying pressure, making it easy to spot momentum shifts and potential entry opportunities aligned with positive order flow.

Delta Negative

Sets the color for bars representing negative delta periods, where selling volume or aggressive selling activity exceeds buying. 

Delta Positive (Secondary)

Sets an additional color option for positive delta visualization.

Delta Negative (Secondary)

Sets an additional color option for negative delta visualization.

Data Settings

Input data

Specifies the data source used for calculating the speed of tape. The available options are:

• Volume: Uses the volume data from each bar to measure trading speed (default). This is the most common setting as it directly reflects the number of contracts or shares traded, providing a clear measure of market activity intensity.

• Order: Uses order flow data to calculate tape speed, which can provide insights into the aggressiveness of buying versus selling activity and the underlying momentum of market participants.

The default "Volume" setting is recommended for most applications as it provides the most straightforward measurement of trading velocity and market participation levels.

Filter min

Sets the minimum volume or order flow threshold for calculations. This filter excludes low-activity periods from the speed calculation, helping to reduce noise and focus on meaningful trading velocity measurements. Bars with activity below this threshold are not included in the tape speed calculation, ensuring the indicator reflects genuine market participation rather than sporadic low-volume trades.

Filter max

Sets the maximum volume or order flow threshold for calculations. The default value is 0 (no maximum limit). This filter can be used to cap extremely high activity periods that might distort the indicator readings, though in most cases leaving this at 0 allows the indicator to capture all significant market activity without artificial limitations.

Mode

Display value

Determines how the tape speed measurement is calculated and displayed. The default setting is "Total" which aggregates all trading activity within the specified time window to provide a comprehensive view of overall market velocity. This setting controls whether the indicator shows cumulative speed, average speed, or other calculation methods for the tape reading.

Number of seconds

Defines the time window in seconds over which the tape speed is calculated. The default value is 10 seconds. This parameter determines how quickly the indicator responds to changes in trading velocity. Shorter time windows (e.g., 5-10 seconds) make the indicator highly responsive to sudden bursts of activity, ideal for scalping and identifying immediate momentum shifts. Longer time windows (e.g., 15-30 seconds) smooth out the readings and provide a more stable view of sustained trading intensity, better suited for swing trading or filtering out brief spikes in activity.