ForecastingStocks

The interplay between the book (resting liquidity) and the tape (executions) is where order flow comes alive. The key is watching how the bid and ask behave as trades hit them.

The mechanics of a move

Price moves up when aggressive buyers consume all the offers at a level and the next-higher offer becomes the best ask. It moves down when aggressive sellers consume the bids. So price doesn't move because of resting orders — it moves when market orders eat through them.

Things to watch

Refilling. Offers at a level get hit, then more size instantly reappears at the same price. Someone is defending that level — a passive seller absorbing buying.
Stacking and pulling. Liquidity building (stacking) ahead of price can mark a level participants intend to defend; liquidity disappearing (pulling) as price approaches removes that floor or ceiling.
The best bid/offer "leaning." When the bid keeps stepping up to meet sellers and price holds, buyers are in control even without a fast rally.

Why this is subtle

Two opposite stories produce the same visible candle. A level that holds because a big passive order is absorbing all the aggression looks, on a chart, identical to a level that holds because aggression simply dried up. The book-and-tape interplay is how you tell them apart — which is exactly the subject of the next lesson.

Availability note

This level of detail is realistic only where you have both a real DOM and a real tape (futures, many equities). In spot forex you are reading a much coarser, broker-specific picture, and should weight it accordingly.