MetaTrader 5 iPhone/iPad Help → Depth of Market

Depth of Market

The Depth of Market (DOM) displays bids and asks for a particular instrument at the best prices (closest to the market) at the moment. The DOM window also shows the volume of each order.

The Dept of Market is different on the exchange and over-the-counter markets:

If an instrument is traded in the exchange mode, in which related trading operations are sent to an external trading system (an exchange), the DOM features real prices and order volumes from market participants.
If an instrument is traded in the over-the-counter (OTC) market, the Depth of Market can be formed based on the quotes of the broker, who may provide different prices depending on the buy or sell volume. If the broker does not provide volumes, the DOM window functions as a scalping tool, which allows placing of market and pending orders with a single click. In this case, the Depth of Market displays price levels calculated based on the Bid and Ask prices using the price change step.

Depth of Market

For more information about prices in the Depth of Market, please see the Price Data section.

To open the Depth of Market window of a financial instrument, tap "Depth of Market" in its context menu in "Quotes".

The number of bids and offers displayed in the DOM is determined by the symbol parameters set by the broker.

The availability of the Depth of Market feature for exchange instruments is not guaranteed and depends on your broker.

Depth of Market

Trade

Trading activities performed from the Depth of Market are directly connected with the peculiarities of the exchange execution of operations in MetaTrader 5 for iPhone. There are two types of trade operations:

Market Operations – buying/selling a financial instrument at the current market price;
Trade Requests – placing various requests (pending orders) to buy/sell a financial instrument at a specified price.

Market Operations #

A market operation is buying/selling a financial instrument at the best price currently offered on the market. Market operations can be performed via the Depth of Market using Buy and Sell buttons below.

From the Market Depth – execute the appropriate trading command in the Market Depth of the required symbol while specifying the required volume. This request to execute a trade operation will be immediately sent to the server without specifying any extra conditions.

The volume must be specified before performing an operation.

After tapping Buy or Sell, an appropriate request to execute a trade operation will be immediately sent to the server without specifying any extra conditions.

Market Operation Example

Below is an example of a market operation: buying 50 lots of AUDUSD.

Sending the Request

Specify the volume of 50 lots and press Buy.

Sending a request for a transaction execution

History of deals performed as a result of the order execution

Executing the Request

The above screenshot shows that only 10.50 lots at 0.92764 were available at the moment of execution. "Fill or Kill" execution mode is used by default when sending market requests from the Depth of Market. It means that the request should be performed in the specified volume. If the specified volume is not available in the market, the request will not be executed.

The necessary volume is available in the market but at a higher price. The requested volume will be reached using the best price offers. You can view the history of order execution in the "History" tab.

The above screenshot shows that the order was executed in three deals: 10.5 lots at 1.0.92764, 30 lots at 0.92765 and 9.5 lots at 0.92766.

When executing market deals you agree in advance to buy/sell a symbol at the current market price in a specified volume. Therefore, one order can be executed in several deals at the best available market price.
Pending orders should be used to execute trade operations at a specified price.

Closing Positions

The Depth of Market allows you to view the state of open positions for a symbol, as well as to close them quickly if necessary.

To view detailed information about positions for the current instrument, tap on the symbol name at the top of the Depth of Market.

To close a position on a netting account, tap "Close" at bottom of the Depth of Market. No additional confirmation is needed.

If an account uses the hedging mode, a user can have multiple open positions of the same instrument. Therefore, to close a position from the Depth of Market, it must be explicitly selected. Only after that the "Close" button will become active.

If hedging is enabled, to close a position you need to select it first

Trade Requests #

Placing a trader request means creating a pending order to buy/sell a financial instrument at a specified price. 4 types of pending orders: Buy Limit, Sell Limit, Buy Stop and Sell Stop can be placed from the Depth of Market. The conventional way of performing trade operations should be used to place Buy Stop Limit and Sell Stop Limit orders.

Placing an Order

To place a pending order, tap on the bid/ask volume cell having a required price:

Placing pending orders via the Depth of Market

After you tap on the appropriate field, a request for placing a pending order will be immediately sent to the server. The order will be displayed in the Depth of Market upon successful placement. As soon as there is a market participant ready to sell the financial instrument at the specified price, the order will be filled and will turn into a position.

Transferring Orders to an External Trading System

Pending orders may or may not be transferred to an external trading system depending on broker's symbol settings. For example, a broker may transfer Limit orders directly to an external trading system while other order types (Stop and Stop Limit ones) will be processed in MetaTrader 5:

An appropriate market operation is executed when the stop price specified in a Buy Stop or Sell Stop order is reached.
When the stop price specified in a Buy Stop Limit or Sell Stop Limit order is reached, an appropriate limit request is executed, which will be visible to other market participants.

Interface: Current Position #

The name of the trading instrument is displayed at the top of the Depth of Market. If there are any open positions for this symbol, an arrow will be displayed next to its name. Tap on the arrow to view information about positions:

Ticket (hedging) or instrument name (netting)
Position direction – Buy or Sell
Open price and current price
Profit/loss

Lots/Amount button allows you to switch quotes volume display mode in the Depth of Market.

Interface: List of Requests

The main part of DOM is occupied by the list of trade requests which are closest to the market. The upper part (colored in red) displays bids, while the lower part (colored in blue) displays asks. List of requests is divided into three columns:

Volume – total volume of requests at a specified price
Price – request price
Trading – this column displays trader's current trade requests and stop levels (Stop Loss and Take Profit). For example:

BL 10 – Buy Limit order of 10 lots
SL 5 – Sell Limit order of 5 lots
BS 1 – Buy Stop order of 1 lot
SS 3 – Sell Stop order of 3 lots
sl 1 – a 1-lot Stop Loss level of a position
tp 2 – a 2-lot Take Profit level of a position

Interface: Trading Commands #

Traders can send market and limit (Buy Limit and Sell Limit) orders.

Pending Orders

Buttons for placing pending orders are located at the right side of Trading column. The order is placed at the price with a pressed button.

– if this button is pressed in the Bid prices area, a Buy Limit order at a specified price will be placed; in case it is pressed in the Ask prices area, a Buy Stop order will be placed;
– if this button is pressed in the Ask prices area, a Sell Limit order at a specified price will be placed; in case it is pressed in the Bid prices area, a Sell Stop order will be placed.

Trading Settings

The upper part of DOM shows trade operation settings:

sl – Stop Loss level is set for placed limit orders. This parameter is specified in points from the current price.
vol – the volume of created market and limit orders in lots.
tp – Take Profit level is set for placed limit orders. This parameter is specified in points from the current price.

Market Orders

Market order commands are located below:

Sell – perform a Sell deal in the size specified in "vol" field at the best available price.
Close – this button is only enabled if there is an open position for a selected financial instrument. It allows you to close the entire position at the best available price.
Buy – perform a Buy deal in the size specified in "vol" field at the best available price.

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