What Is the Trading Desk?
The Trading Desk shows you what professional traders see — the actual orders waiting to be filled, the trades happening right now, and the gap between buyers and sellers. This is called "order flow" and it tells you what's happening behind the price.
Most investors never look at this data. But if you want to understand why a stock is moving, order flow shows you in real time.
Level 2 Data (Depth of Market)
Level 2 shows all the buy orders (bids) and sell orders (asks) waiting at different prices. You can see exactly how many shares people want to buy at $150, how many at $149.50, and so on.
A big stack of buy orders at a certain price acts like a floor — the price is unlikely to drop below it easily. A big stack of sell orders acts like a ceiling. This helps you find good entry and exit points for your trades.
Time & Sales (The Tape)
Time & Sales shows every trade that actually happens — the price, the number of shares, and when it happened. Green trades happened at the ask price (a buyer lifted the offer). Red trades happened at the bid (a seller hit the bid).
When you see a flurry of large green trades, it means big buyers are aggressively buying. That's often a sign the price is about to move up. The opposite pattern — lots of large red trades — suggests selling pressure.
Bid-Ask Spread
The spread is the gap between the highest bid (what buyers will pay) and the lowest ask (what sellers want). A tight spread (a few cents) means lots of liquidity — it's easy to buy and sell without losing money on the gap. A wide spread means fewer traders and higher costs.
Before entering any trade, glance at the spread. If it's more than 0.5% of the stock price, you might want to use a limit order instead of a market order to avoid overpaying.
Extended Hours
The Trading Desk also shows pre-market (before 9:30 AM) and after-hours (after 4:00 PM) trading data. Spreads are usually wider during these times because fewer people are trading.
Important news often breaks outside regular hours. Earnings reports come out after the close. Watching extended-hours data lets you see how the stock reacts before the next regular session opens.