What Is Market Depth? Definition, How It's Used, and Example (2024)

What Is Market Depth?

Market depth refers to a market's ability to absorb relatively large market orders without significantly impacting the price of the security. Market depthconsiders the overall level and breadth of open orders, bids, and offers, and usually refers to trading within an individual security. Typically, the more buy and sell orders that exist, the greater the depth of the market—provided that those orders are dispersed fairly evenly around the current market price of that security.

Key Takeaways

  • Market depth refers to the market liquidity for a security based on the number of standing orders to buy (bids) and sell (offers) at various price levels.
  • In addition to price levels, market depth considers the order size, or volume, at each price level.
  • The greater the market depth, the less likely that large trades will greatly impact a security's price.
  • Market depth can be ascertained by looking at level 2 price quotes that can be found in a security's order book.

Understanding Market Depth

Market depth, or depth of market (DOM), is closely related to liquidity and volume within a security, but does not imply that every stock showing a high trade volume has good market depth. Market depth can be evaluated by looking at theorder book of a security,which consists of a list of pending orders to buy or sell at various price levels. On any given day, there may be an imbalance of orders large enough to create high volatility, even for stocks with the highest daily volumes.

The decimalization of ticks on the major U.S. exchanges has been said to increase overall market depth, as evidenced by the decreased importance of market makers, a position needed in the past to prevent order imbalances.

Market depth is a derivative of all the orders that populate a security's order book at any given point in time. It is the amount that will be traded for a limit order with a given price—if it is not limited by size—or the least favorable price that will be obtained by a market order with a given size—or a limit order that is limited by size and not price.

Although a change in price may, in turn, attract subsequent orders, this is not included in market depth since it is an unknown. For example, if the market for a stock is "deep," there will be a sufficient volume of pending orders on both the bid and ask side, preventing a large order from significantly moving the price.

Depth of market also refers to the number of shares of a particular stock which can be bought without causing price appreciation. If the stock is extremely liquid and has a large number of buyers andsellers, purchasing a bulk of shares typically will not result in noticeable stock price movements.

How Traders Use Market Depth Data

Market depth data helps traders determine where the price of a particular security could be heading. For example, a trader may use market depth data to understand thebid-ask spreadfor a security, along with thevolumeaccumulating above both figures.

Securities with strong market depth will usually have strong volume and be quite liquid, allowing traders to place large orders without significantly affecting the market price. Meanwhile, securities with poor depth could be moved if abuy or sell order is large enough.

Market depthdata usually exists in the form of an electronic list of buy and sell orders known as the order book. These are organized by price level and updated in real-time to reflect current activity. In the past, this data used to be available for a fee, but nowadays most trading platforms offer some form of market depth display for free. This allows all parties trading in a security to see a full list of buy and sell orders pending execution, along with their sizes—instead of simply the best ones.

Real-time market depth data allows traders to profit from short-term price volatility. For example, if a companygoes publicand begins trading for the first time, traders can stand by for strong buying demand, signaling the price of the newly public firm could continue an upward trajectory.

Example of Market Depth

Consider the order book information in the image below, which displays the current bid-ask spread on the left, along with the market depth on the right. This type of quote is also known as level 2 market data.

What Is Market Depth? Definition, How It's Used, and Example (1)

The current quote in the security, MEOW shares, is $13.62 – $13.68, with 3,000 shares on the bid and 500 shares on the offer. The right panel indicates the depth of bids on the left. If all 3,000 shares were sold at $13.62, the next best bid would be $13.45, but only for 16 shares.

Should you have an order to sell 10,000 MEOW shares at the market, you would sell all the available bids down to $13.35, where there is a standing order to buy 43,500 shares. Selling 10,000 shares would thus move the market down nearly 30 cents, or about 2%. This indicates a low level of market depth.

What Is Market Depth? Definition, How It's Used, and Example (2024)

FAQs

What Is Market Depth? Definition, How It's Used, and Example? ›

Depth of market (DOM) is a measure of the supply and demand for liquid, tradeable assets. It is based on the number of open buy and sell orders

orders
A stop-loss order is an order placed with a broker to buy or sell a specific stock once the stock reaches a certain price. 1 A stop-loss is designed to limit an investor's loss on a security position.
https://www.investopedia.com › articles › stocks › use-stop-loss
for a given asset such as a stock or futures contract. The greater the quantity of those orders, the deeper or more liquid, the market is considered to be.

How to use market depth? ›

Market depth can be evaluated by looking at the order book of a security, which consists of a list of pending orders to buy or sell at various price levels. On any given day, there may be an imbalance of orders large enough to create high volatility, even for stocks with the highest daily volumes.

What does 2% market depth mean? ›

In simpler terms, it shows the volume of buy and sell orders within a 2% range of the current market price. This depth gives traders valuable insights into the market's liquidity and the current sentiments of other traders.

What are the benefits of market depth? ›

Market depth helps in risk management by providing information about the potential price movements and volatility of an asset. It shows the number of buy and sell orders at different price levels, which helps traders and investors to identify potential support and resistance levels and set stop-loss orders accordingly.

What does deep market mean in business? ›

A stock has a deep market if it consistently achieves a high volume of trades. A stock with a deep market is highly liquid, meaning there is a balance between buyers and sellers that keeps the price stable. For traders, a deep market allows large trades to be made without immediately affecting the price of the stock.

Is market depth a good indicator? ›

Market depth data helps traders determine where the price of specific security might be headed. Securities with strong market liquidity would, typically, have a high volume and be relatively liquid, allowing traders to position large orders without impacting market price significantly.

What do you mean by Depth Of Market? ›

Depth of market (DOM) is a measure of the supply and demand for liquid, tradeable assets. It is based on the number of open buy and sell orders for a given asset such as a stock or futures contract. The greater the quantity of those orders, the deeper or more liquid, the market is considered to be.

How do you check market depth? ›

Market depth gives a gist of real time market activity in a particular security. It gives an idea of the levels at which the orders are being placed. To view the market depth for a particular scrip, search for the scrip to go to the scrip info page.

What is 5 market depth? ›

What is 5 Market Depth? 5 Market depth displays 5 levels of current best bids and asks price of a particular stock. You can view 3 levels of market depth at no cost on Rakuten Trade's website.

What is the formula for market depth? ›

The calculation for market depth is simply the cumulative volume of the base asset at various percentages from the mid price. For example, the “Bid Volume 10%” for BTC/USD on Coinbase would represent the volume of all bids for BTC falling within 10% of the mid price at which the order book snapshot was taken.

How to read a stock depth chart? ›

The X-Axis measures the price, while the Y-Axis measures the number of orders. The green area on the left represents the lowest prices that customers are looking for. The red area on the right represents the highest prices sellers desire. The split represents the price levels from the most recent trade in the middle.

Do I need market depth? ›

Market depth data can also be helpful when contemplating entry and exit points for your trades as you have a total overview of the orders pending on the market. For example, if you are trading stock with low volume and want to buy many shares, the market depth data can allow you to guesstimate the average buying price.

What is level 2 market depth? ›

Level 2 stock data shows all of the orders that have been placed at prices below the best bid price or above the best ask price. These are limit orders that could be executed if the price of a stock were to fall or rise.

What is the difference between market depth and liquidity? ›

Market depth refers to the level of supply and demand for a particular security, while liquidity is the ease with which a security can be bought or sold without affecting its price. Market depth and liquidity are closely related, as higher market depth generally leads to higher liquidity.

What is standard depth of market? ›

The Standard Dom displays the price and the amount of the liquidity available at that price. The Standard DoM allows viewing the current Depth of Market but doesn't allow trading.

What is a thin market depth? ›

Understanding Thin Markets

A thin market has high price volatility and low liquidity. The balance between supply and demand can tip abruptly, creating a substantial impact on prices. Since few bids and asks are being quoted, potential buyers and sellers may even find it difficult to make a transaction.

What is 20 market depth? ›

Zerodha is the only retail broker to offer 20 market depth or Level 3 data to its clients. 20 Market depth, also known as Level 3 data, provides detailed information about the best bids and offers for stocks at various prices and quantities. It displays the top 20 bids and offers.

How do you use a stock depth chart? ›

You can use the Depth Chart to indicate a specific price point at which you would like to place a limit or stop-limit order. Once you have selected an order type, simply hover over either side of the chart based on the order you wish to place (buy or sell) and choose a specific price from the chart.

How to use dom in trading? ›

Click on the Trade button in the trading panel. In the order panel, select the DOM tab - Order book. The DOM will open for the asset selected on the chart. If the data is not displayed, the symbol on the chart is not traded through the selected broker.

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