Most sentiment indicators restate the chart: price went up, so sentiment
is bullish. This one measures something the chart cannot show —
which side is actively paying to get filled, right now.
1
Every fill has an aggressor
A trade needs two parties, but only one of them chose to trade at that
moment. The aggressor crosses the spread and pays for
immediacy; the other side was resting patiently on the order book.
Summing aggressor volume shows which side is being forced through the
book — information price alone does not carry.
2
Flow, confirmed by price
Over a rolling 60 seconds, buy-side and sell-side aggressor volume are
netted into one imbalance, then blended with the price movement that
flow achieved — weighted 72% flow, 28% momentum. Pressure builds
in the tape before it reaches price, so flow leads and momentum
confirms. Heavy buying that moves nothing reads weaker than heavy
buying that lifts the market.
3
Read as a verdict, not a number
The score is smoothed and mapped to five bands, from Heavy
Distribution through Balanced to Strong Accumulation. Below twelve
fills in the window the meter reports Calibrating rather than
inventing a reading out of noise.