What Is a ‘Limit Order Book’ and How Is It Visualized for Depth Analysis?

A limit order book (LOB) is a real-time record of all outstanding limit orders for a financial instrument, organized by price level. It is visualized for depth analysis as a cumulative graph showing the total volume available at each price level on both the bid (buy) and ask (sell) sides.

The shape of this curve indicates market depth; a steeper curve means less depth, and a flatter curve means more depth.

What Are ‘Limit Orders’ and ‘Market Orders,’ and Which Type of Order Pays the Cost of Immediacy?
Does the Presence of Institutional Traders Typically Increase or Decrease Order Book Depth?
How Does a Change in Tick Size Affect the Depth and Volume at the Top of the Book?
How Does the Order Book Depth Relate to the Potential for Slippage?
How Does an exchange’S’matching Engine’ Process Different Types of Orders?
What Is the “Order Book” and How Does It Reflect Market Depth?
How Does ‘Order Book Depth’ Quantify Liquidity?
How Does the Risk of “Front-Running” Differ between LOBs and AMMs?

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