Open Interest Footprint IQ [TradingIQ]

Hello Traders!

The Open Interest Footprint IQ indicator is an advanced visualization tool designed for cryptocurrency markets. It provides a granular, real-time breakdown of open interest changes across different price levels, allowing traders to see how aggressive market participation is distributed within each bar.

Unlike standard footprint charts that rely solely on volume, this indicator offers unique insights by focusing on the interaction between price action and changes in open interest (OI) — a leading metric often used to infer trader intent and positioning.

How it works

The Open Interest Footprint IQ processes lower timeframe price and open interest data to build a footprint-style chart that shows how traders are positioning themselves within each candle.

Here’s a breakdown of the process:

1. Granular OI & Price Sampling
The script retrieves lower-timeframe data (1-minute, 1-second, or 1-tick, based on your setting).

For each candle, it captures:

• High and low prices
  
• Price change direction
  
• Change in open interest (OI)
  

2. Classifying Trader Behavior
For each lower-timeframe segment, the indicator determines the type of positioning occurring based on price movement and OI change:

• If price is moving up and open interest is increasing, it suggests that long positions are being opened. This is considered a "Longs Opening" event, labeled as UU (Up/Up).
  
• If price is moving up but open interest is decreasing, it indicates that short positions are being closed. This is referred to as UD (Up/Down), or "Shorts Closing."
  
• If price is moving down and open interest is increasing, it signals that short positions are being opened. This is known as DU (Down/Up), or "Shorts Opening."
  
• If price is moving down while open interest is also decreasing, it means that long positions are being closed. This is labeled as DD (Down/Down), or "Longs Closing."
  

These are stored in separate arrays and displayed at specific price levels.

It is particularly useful for identifying:

• Where longs or shorts are opening/closing positions
  
• Stacked imbalances (indicative of potential absorption or exhaustion)
  
• Value area zones and POC (Point of Control) based on OI, not volume
  

This footprint runs on your choice of sub-bar granularity and is ideal for high-frequency trading, scalping, and entries based on order flow dynamics.

Key Features

Footprint Visualization

At each price level within a candle:

• Long/short opening and closing behavior is broken down.
  
• Delta (net open interest change) is displayed both numerically and color-coded.
  
• Optional gradient coloring shows intensity and type of flow (longs/shorts opened/closed).
  
• Cumulative or per-bar reset modes allow you to track OI evolution over time.
  

The image above explains the information that each Footprint box shows across a candlestick!

Each footprint box shows:

• OI Delta
  
• OI Delta %
  
• Longs Opened (LO)
  
• Longs Closed (LC)
  
• Shorts Opened (SO)
  
• Shorts Closed (SC)
  

The image above explains the color-coding feature of the indicator.

Boxes are color coded to show which position action
dominated at the price area.

For this example:

• Green boxes = Long positions being opened dominated
  
• Purple boxes = Long positions being closed dominated
  
• Red boxes = Short positions being opened dominated
  
• Yellow boxes = Short positions being closed dominated
  

All colors are customizable.

Additionally, for traders who are only interested in whether OI increased/decreased, a "two-color" option is available in the settings.



For the two-color option, footprint boxes can be one of two colors. Showing whether OI increased or decreased at the level.

Cumulative Levels

Open Interest Footprint IQ contains a "Cumulative Levels" feature that tracks/stores open interest change at tick levels over time, rather than resetting per bar.



With the "Cumulative Levels" feature enabled, traders can see open interest changes persist across all candlesticks. This feature is useful for determining whether longs opening, longs closing, shorts opening, or shorts closing are dominating at particular price areas over time rather than on a single bar.

A useful feature to see if shorts/longs are favoring certain price throughout the day, week, month, etc.

Input Settings Explained


Granularity (Dropdown: Granularity)
Options: 1-Minute, 1-Second, 1-Tick

Determines how finely the script samples the lower timeframe data to construct the footprint.

For precision:

1-Tick = Highest accuracy, but more resource-intensive.

1-Second/1-Minute = Suitable for broader or more zoomed-out analysis.

Tick Level Distance (Tick Level Distance (0 = Auto))
Defines the vertical spacing between levels in the footprint chart.

If 0, the script uses an automatic calculation based on ATR to adapt to volatility.

Set a manual value (e.g., 5) to control the height granularity of each level in ticks.

Cumulative Levels (Toggle)
If enabled, the footprint builds cumulatively over time, rather than resetting per candle.

Use case: Visualize ongoing buildup of OI activity across a session or day.

Cumulative Levels Reset TF (Timeframe)
Sets the reset interval for the cumulative view (e.g., reset daily, hourly, etc.)

Works only when Cumulative Levels is enabled.

Delta Box Display Settings

Show Delta Percentage
Toggles the display of the percentage change in OI across the footprint level.

Helpful to gauge how aggressive positioning is relative to total OI at that level.

Show Longs/Shorts (Opened/Closed)
Show Longs Opened: Displays OI increase in up candles (price ↑, OI ↑).

Show Longs Closed: Displays OI decrease in down candles (price ↓, OI ↓).

Show Shorts Opened: OI increase in down candles (price ↓, OI ↑).

Show Shorts Closed: OI decrease in up candles (price ↑, OI ↓).

These behaviors are color-coded to give traders instant context:

Blue-green for longs opening.

Purple for longs closing.

Red for shorts opening.

Yellow for shorts closing.

Value Area & POC

Value Area % (Value Area %)
Controls how much cumulative open interest is used to define the value area.

Example: 70% means the smallest range of prices that contains 70% of total OI in that bar will be marked.

Helps identify zones of interest, support/resistance, and institutional levels.



The image above explains how to identify the VAH/VAL/POC shown by Open Interest Footprint IQ.

• VAH = Upper 🞂
  
• POC = ●
  
• VAL = Lower 🞂
  

Imbalances

Imbalance Percentage

Defines the minimum delta % required at a level to be marked as an imbalance.

If the net open interest change at a level exceeds this threshold, a visual marker appears.



Stacked Imbalance Count

If the number of consecutive imbalance levels meets this count, a “Stacked Imbalance” alert will trigger.

This can signal aggressive buying or selling pressure, potential breakout zones, or institutional absorption.



Color Settings
Longs Opened / Closed, Shorts Opened / Closed
Customize the color palette for each order flow behavior.

These colors appear in the background gradient of the footprint boxes.

Up/Down Only Mode
Toggle to override all behavior-based colors with a single Up Color and Down Color.

Useful if you prefer a simple bull/bear view.

Up Color / Down Color
If "Up/Down Only" is enabled, these two colors are used to represent all net positive or negative deltas.

Special Notes
Crypto only: This script works only with crypto tickers on TradingView.

For other assets (stocks, futures), a warning message will appear instead.

OI data must be available from the exchange (many perpetual pairs support this).

If the footprint is too small or invisible, increase your tick level spacing in the settings.

Alerts
When a stacked imbalance is detected, an alert is fired ("Stacked Imbalance").

This feature is useful for automated systems, bots, or simply staying informed of potential trade setups.

And that's all for now!

If you have any questions or features you'd like to see feel free to share them in the comments below!

Thank you traders!