Methodology
How to build an order-flow trade plan with invalidation
An order-flow plan is a conditional statement, not a forecast: at a preselected level, observe a defined execution pattern; act only after a defined price confirmation; exit when price behaviour disproves that pattern. This separates what the tape measured from the risk decision a trader makes next.
Reviewed by Andy Bar · Last reviewed 12 August 2026
Name the level and the question
Use a level that existed before the current candle: a prior high, session boundary or profile edge. Write what would be meaningful there, such as aggressive buyers failing to move price through resistance. This stops the plan from being rewritten after the result is known.
Define the evidence in plain terms
For example, heavy two-sided execution with limited progress is an absorption hypothesis. A run of diagonal imbalances is an aggression hypothesis. Include the selected cell size, threshold and venue, because the same visual marker can change when any of those inputs changes.
Require price to do one more thing
A trigger might be price returning inside resistance after the heavy trade, or holding above a stacked zone after a retest. It must be observable without interpreting a later footprint colour. If the trigger never arrives, there is no trade to rescue.
State what makes the explanation false
If absorption implied defence, acceptance through the defended level invalidates it. If a stack implied continuation, loss of the zone invalidates it. The risk distance, position size and any target depend on the trader and are intentionally not prescribed here.
What this page is based on
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