How to read BitQ

Every page, every indicator and the BitQ Flag, in plain words: what each one shows, how to read it, and how to use it in a trade.

What BitQ is

BitQ is a market workstation for Bitcoin (BTCUSDT on Binance). It collects public market data all the time. It calculates what the data means. It shows the result in one place.

BitQ answers two questions:

What is the market doing right now?
What happened in history when the market looked like this before?

BitQ does not trade for you. It does not place orders and it does not need your exchange keys. You make every decision.

BitQ shows information only. It is not financial advice. Trading is risky. You trade at your own risk.

Getting started

Create an account with your email and a password.
Open the Overview. It shows the market in one view.
Open the Chart. Use the Indicators menu to show or hide each layer and pane.
Open Account and connect Telegram if you want alerts on your phone.

The pages

Overview: the BitQ Flag on every timeframe, the current reading, evidence on both sides, key levels.
Chart: price with all indicators, the footprint and the Flag pane.
Signals: trade ideas with entry, stop and targets, and how past ideas ended.
Positioning: open interest, funding, basis and spot ETF flows.
Alerts: what BitQ noticed, in time order.
Journal: your own trade notes. Only you can see them.
System: the health of every data stream.

Keyboard

Press ? to see all shortcuts. Press Ctrl+K to search. Press 1 to 7 to change the timeframe on the Chart. Press g and then a letter to go to a page.

The BitQ Flag

The BitQ Flag tells you what the market is doing on one timeframe. It reads every closed bar in six ways (the lanes), then it combines them into one state. It is a description of the market. It is not a trade signal and it is not a forecast: see What history says.

It reads 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h and 4h bars. Each timeframe has its own reading. On the Chart, the Flag follows the timeframe you select. Turn it on with Indicators → BitQ → BitQ Flag or the q key.

Where you see it

Element	Where	What it is
Regime ribbon	Top row of the Flag pane, under the price chart	One cell per bar: the slow state of the market (the regime).
Six lanes	The six rows under the ribbon	One cell per bar per lane: the inputs to the regime.
Pennants	On the price chart, at a bar	An event on that bar (squeeze, flush, failed breakout, absorption, breakout).
Reading card	Top left of the chart	The reading in words. Hover a bar to read that bar. The dots next to the regime count the lanes that agree with the regime’s direction.
Flag stack	Overview page	The regime on every timeframe, side by side.

The regime ribbon: colours

Each cell is one bar. The colour is the regime on that bar. The regime changes only after two closed bars agree, so it does not flicker. Colours are given for the dark theme; the light theme uses the same hues.

Regime	Exact colour	Meaning
Uptrend	teal #1fc98e, 85 % opacity, solid	Structure trends up (drift and swings) and nothing shows the trend fading.
Downtrend	coral #f4505f, 85 %, solid	The same, down.
Uptrend tiring	teal 42 % with diagonal lines	Still an uptrend, but losing force: delta divergence, short covering, sellers or OI against it, extreme volatility, or price back below VWAP or value. The diagonal lines mean “fading”.
Downtrend tiring	coral 42 % with diagonal lines	The same, for a downtrend.
Coiling	amber #f2c14e, 60 %, solid	Volatility in the lowest 20 % of its recent range and almost no drift.
Balance	grey #7c8699, 30 %	No trend. Price rotates inside or around value.
Unclear	grey #4f596b, 12 % (almost empty)	Not enough bars or data yet (the first bars of a series).

The six lanes: colours

Each lane is one row. A lane value goes from −1 to +1 (directional lanes) or from 0 to 1 (energy, liquidity). The stronger the value, the deeper the colour. Directional lanes: opacity is 12 % at zero and 90 % at ±1. Energy and liquidity: 12 % at the middle (0.5) and about 87 % at either end (0 or 1).

Lane	Question	Colours
Structure	Is there a trend, and is it getting faster?	teal: up drift and higher swings. coral: down.
Auction	Is price accepted above or below value?	Teal: above the prior day’s value area or VWAP (deepest when accepted, 2+ closes). Coral: below.
Control	Who is aggressive, and does price move with them?	Teal: buyers in control. Coral: sellers. Absorbed or exhausted aggression shows the colour of the side that is winning.
Fuel	Are traders opening or closing positions?	Deep teal: new longs (OI up, price up). Deep coral: new shorts. Pale teal: short covering. Pale coral: longs closing.
Energy	Is the market coiled or stretched?	blue: compressed (low volatility). amber: expanded or extreme.
Liquidity	Is the path clear?	Amber: thin book near price. Blue: thick book. Only the newest bar has a book reading.

A cell with grey diagonal lines means that lane had no data at all on that bar (for example, liquidity on any bar without an order-book reading). A lane without data does not vote. Missing trade-level inputs (footprint and big trades, about a day deep) or missing liquidations do not hatch a cell: the lane is read from the inputs it has, and the missing ones simply do not contribute.

The pennants: events

A pennant is a short vertical pole with a small triangle at its end. It sits below the bar in teal when the event points up, and above the bar in coral when it points down. The code next to it appears when you zoom in far enough; when you zoom far out, pennants are hidden so they do not become noise.

Code	Event	Rule (on the closed bar)	Points
SQ	Short squeeze	Up bar of at least 1 ATR with liquidations in the top 10 %, or a sharp drop in open interest (bottom 10 % and 3× the usual change).	Up
FL	Long flush	The same, down.	Down
FB	Failed breakout / breakdown	The first close back inside value after a run outside it that reached at least 0.25 ATR beyond.	Against the failed move
AB	Buyers / sellers absorbed	Heavy one-sided aggression (top 15 %, volume 1.2× normal) with almost no progress, at value’s edge, the recent high or low, or a supply or demand zone.	Against the absorbed side
BO	Breakout attempt	The first close outside value with control at least 0.3 in that direction.	With the break

The reading card

Collapsed: the timeframe, the regime name in its colour, the conviction dots and the latest event.
Conviction dots: one dot for each direction lane with data (up to four). A filled dot agrees with the regime’s direction. Four of four is a clear read; one of four is weak. In the expanded card, the dots next to the state’s title (an event while it holds) count the lanes that agree with that state’s direction instead.
Expanded (click): each lane as a bar with its label, what followed this state in history (or a Note from market mechanics where it was not measured), the condition that would change the reading, and the regime one timeframe up.
Hover a bar to read that bar. Move the pointer off the chart to return to the current reading.

When a flag is formed

Every reading is made on a closed bar, from data up to that close only.
The bar that is still forming has a provisional reading: what the Flag would say if the bar closed now, refreshed every 5 seconds. It is drawn faded, the card shows it as “Forming (x %, provisional)” with the regime it would show, “may become …” when the rules see a different regime not yet confirmed, and any possible event, and it never plants a pennant. At the close it is replaced by the real reading, which is the only one recorded.
The chart asks for the Flag as soon as a bar closes, so the new reading appears seconds after the close.
Past readings are not repainted with hindsight: a swing counts only from the bar that confirms it, the value area is the prior day, and recomputing 376,462 past bars from 45 different start points changed none of them.
One difference from what you saw live: older bars lose inputs that only exist for recent bars (footprint and big trades about a day, liquidations since the system started, the book only now).

What history says

BitQ measured every state on every timeframe (5m, 15m, 30m, 1h and 4h, 2023 to 2026) against ordinary bars of the same timeframe, with the trade inputs the live Flag has and the number of tests counted (study 004: studies 001 to 003 repeated on the rules as they now run). The results:

No directional state predicted the next 1, 4 or 16 bars, on any timeframe. After a trend, squeeze, flush, failed breakout, absorption or breakout, price moved no differently from any other bar.
Most flags mark a move that already happened. Before a squeeze, flush or breakout pennant, price had already moved that way 83 % to 93 % of the time. On a chart, “red pennant, then price fell” is mostly the fall that made the pennant.
Coiling is followed by smaller moves, not larger ones. On 5m to 1h, the next 4 bars moved about 19 % to 25 % less than from an ordinary bar. On 4h there was no clear difference. Quiet markets tend to stay quiet for a while.

The reading card shows the result for the state and the timeframe you are on, marked measured.

How to use the Flag

Use it to describe, not to predict. It tells you in one glance what all the other indicators say about now.
Check the higher timeframe. Know which regime you trade inside.
Use a pennant as a fact about the bar, not as an entry. A failed breakout or absorption against your trade is information about the auction; decide with your own plan.
When coiling, expect quiet to continue. Do not expect an immediate breakout.
Use “Changes if” as the condition that would change your view.

Chart indicators

Open the Indicators menu on the Chart to show or hide each one. The letter next to a name is its shortcut.

Levels

What it shows: Prices where the market did business before: prior day high, low and close, swing highs and lows, VWAP, value area, POCs, and large resting orders.
How to read it: A level where several references agree is stronger. The Overview shows the few that matter most, ranked by importance and distance.
What to take away: Levels are where reactions happen. They are not where reactions must happen.
Watch out: A level is a place to watch, not an order. Wait for flow to confirm.

Volume profile

What it shows: How much volume traded at each price in the visible range. POC is the price with the most volume. The value area holds 70 % of the volume (VAH to VAL).
How to read it: Price inside value: the market accepts these prices. Price outside value: it tests new prices.
What to take away: Price that leaves value and is accepted (two closes outside) often moves on. Price that comes back inside often goes back to the POC.
Watch out: The profile changes when you pan or zoom. It describes the range on screen.

Auction marks

What it shows: Initial balance (the first hour of the UTC day), single prints, poor highs and lows, and untested POCs of earlier days.
How to read it: A single print is a price that one completed 30-minute period crossed fast and no later completed period revisited. A poor high or low is an extreme that was not rejected clearly. An untested POC is a prior day's POC that price has not touched again.
What to take away: These are places where the auction left work unfinished. Price often returns to them.
Watch out: Single prints need at least two completed periods. Early in the UTC day there are none.

Order blocks

What it shows: The last opposite bar before a strong move through a swing (5m bars and longer).
How to read it: A demand block below price can support it. A supply block above price can stop it. A block that price closes through is broken.
What to take away: Use blocks as zones for patience, not as entries by themselves.
Watch out: In earlier research on index futures, zones like these did no better than random. Confirm with flow.

VWAP

What it shows: The session volume-weighted average price, from 00:00 UTC. It is the average price that traders paid today.
How to read it: Above VWAP, buyers control the session on average. Below it, sellers do.
What to take away: In a trend, pullbacks to VWAP often hold. A close back across VWAP against the trend is a sign of fading.
Watch out: VWAP resets every day at 00:00 UTC.

Footprint

What it shows: Executed buy and sell volume at each price inside each bar. Zoom in on 1m to 1h bars to see it.
How to read it: Left of each bar: aggressive sells. Right: aggressive buys. A bright cell is an imbalance (one side at least three times the other, on the diagonal). Three or more imbalances in a row are a stack. Δ under the bar is its delta.
What to take away: Stacked buy imbalances under price can act as support. Strong delta with no progress is absorption.
Watch out: The footprint is executed trades, not resting orders. A bar is drawn only when BitQ has all of its trades.

Flow zones

What it shows: Zones from stacked footprint imbalances that price has not closed through.
How to read it: A buy-stack zone below price is where buyers were aggressive. A sell-stack zone above price is where sellers were aggressive.
What to take away: Price that comes back to a fresh flow zone often reacts.
Watch out: A close through the zone ends it.

Big trades and liquidations

What it shows: Circles for large aggressive trades and squares for liquidations, below the bar for buys and above for sells.
How to read it: Bigger marks mean bigger size. A cluster of liquidations is forced flow.
What to take away: Forced flow often marks the end of a move, not the start.
Watch out: Binance sends at most one liquidation per second, so BitQ shows a sample.

Liquidity walls and book heatmap

What it shows: Large resting orders that stayed in the book (walls), and resting size over time (heatmap).
How to read it: A wall that stays and absorbs trades is real. A wall that disappears as price comes near was pulled.
What to take away: Walls are where price can slow down. A pulled wall can pull price toward it.
Watch out: Resting orders can be cancelled at any moment. They are not trades.

Panes below the chart

Delta

What it shows: Aggressive buy volume minus aggressive sell volume per bar.
How to read it: Positive: buyers were more aggressive. Negative: sellers were.
What to take away: Compare delta with price. Strong delta with no price move is absorption. A new high on weaker delta is divergence.
Watch out: Delta shows aggression, not who will win.

Open interest

What it shows: The number of open perpetual contracts, in BTC.
How to read it: Price up and OI up: new longs. Price up and OI down: shorts closing. Price down and OI up: new shorts. Price down and OI down: longs closing.
What to take away: Moves with new positions usually last longer than moves that only close positions.
Watch out: OI shows how many positions exist, not which side holds them.

Funding

What it shows: The rate that longs pay shorts (or the opposite) on the perpetual, per funding interval.
How to read it: High positive funding: longs are crowded and pay to stay. Negative: shorts are crowded.
What to take away: Crowded positioning can unwind fast against the crowd.
Watch out: Funding can stay high for a long time.

Basis

What it shows: The perpetual mark price against the spot index, in basis points.
How to read it: A high premium: leveraged buyers pay more than spot. A discount: the opposite.
What to take away: A move led by the perpetual alone is less stable than one that spot confirms.
Watch out: Basis is small most of the time. Watch its change, not its size.

The Overview

The Overview compresses everything into one page.

BitQ Flag stack: the regime on every timeframe and one line on how they line up.
Verdict: one sentence. "No clear edge" is a valid answer.
What matters now: at most three readings. Each one says why, what it means, what would prove it wrong, and its track record.
Evidence on both sides: facts for higher and for lower prices, so you see both.
Key levels: the few levels that matter most, ranked by importance and distance in ATR.
What to watch next: conditions, not orders.

Signals

A signal is a trade idea from a fixed rule. It has an entry, a stop and targets at real levels. It is not an order. BitQ scores every signal afterwards on what really happened.

Costs

Every result is shown net of fees and slippage. BitQ uses the Binance taker fee for entries at market and exits, the maker fee for limit entries, and a small slippage. A stop so tight that costs take more than 0.25 R is rejected.

Grade

A, B or C comes from context: the 15m BitQ Flag, structure, open interest, funding, spot flow and ETF flows. A grade is not a probability.

Track record

Each setup shows how its past ideas ended: the share that reached the first target, with its 95 % range, and the average R. A setup is "unproven" until it has enough trades.

The first version of the setups lost money after costs over 45 months of history. BitQ shows that result openly. Do not trade a setup because a signal appears. Check its track record first.

A trade, step by step

Context. Read the Flag on the higher timeframe. Decide the side you allow, or decide not to trade.
Location. Find the key level or the edge of value where the idea makes sense. Do not trade from the middle of nowhere.
Trigger. Wait for flow to agree: control in your direction, an event such as a failed breakout or absorption at your level, or acceptance after a breakout.
Risk. Put the stop where the idea is wrong: beyond the level or the swing. Check that costs are a small part of the risk.
Targets. Use the next real references: POC, the other edge of value, a prior day level.
Manage. Read "Changes if". Reduce risk when a flag appears against you or the regime starts to tire.
Review. Write the trade in your Journal: the plan, what happened, what you learned.

Alerts and Telegram

Open Account and press Connect Telegram. The BitQ bot opens in Telegram.
Press Start. The page shows that Telegram is connected.

You then get BitQ's market alerts and trade ideas in that chat. Send /stop to pause them and /start to resume. The link works once and for 15 minutes.

Data health and honesty

Every data stream has a state:

LIVE: data arrives on time.
DELAYED: data is late.
STALE: data is too old to use.
DISCONNECTED: no connection.

BitQ never shows old data as current. A grey candle means minutes are missing from that bar.

Measured and reasoned

BitQ separates what it measured from what it reasons. A measured result says how many cases it used and how it compares with random times. A reasoned text says "reasoned".

Limits

Binance does not publish the history of the order book or of liquidations. BitQ collects them live.
Liquidations are a sample: at most one per second.
The footprint needs the trades of a bar. After a restart, BitQ loads the last 24 hours again.

Glossary

ATR: Average true range: the typical size of one bar. BitQ measures distances in ATR so that one rule works in quiet and in fast markets.
Delta: Aggressive buy volume minus aggressive sell volume.
CVD: Cumulative volume delta: delta added up over time.
POC: Point of control: the price with the most volume.
Value area (VAH, VAL): The price range that holds 70 % of the volume. VAH is its high, VAL its low.
Acceptance: Price that stays outside value for at least two closes.
Absorption: Heavy aggression that does not move price, because the other side takes it.
Open interest (OI): The number of open perpetual contracts.
Funding: The periodic payment between longs and shorts on a perpetual.
R: The risk of a trade, from entry to stop. A result of +2 R made twice the risk; −1 R lost the risk.
Regime: The slow state of the market in the BitQ Flag: trend, tiring, balance or coiling.

Disclaimer

BitQ shows market information for education and analysis only. It is not financial advice and it is not a recommendation to buy or sell anything. Past results do not show future results. Trading crypto is risky and you can lose money. You trade at your own risk.