SuperDOM AI Assistant: Reading Depth of Market with AI
SabrTrader exposes depth of market in two places: a DOM panel docked to a candlestick chart, and a dedicated SuperDOM window launched from the Control Panel. Each window carries its own AI assistant, and that assistant can only see the data of the window it lives in — the chart AI reads candles and indicators, while the SuperDOM AI reads the ladder, its columns and the order book. This page documents both DOM surfaces, the SuperDOM AI assistant, its starter prompt library, the one-click Apply column workflow, the right-click Add Column menu, and how Level 3 (market-by-order) data changes what the ladder shows.
Overview: Two DOMs, Two AI Assistants
The Depth of Market (DOM) is a price ladder that lists resting bid and ask limit orders at each price level around the current market. SabrTrader renders this ladder in two distinct windows:
- Chart-attached DOM panel — a ladder docked to the right side of a candlestick chart, opened by right-clicking the chart. It scrolls in alignment with the chart as price moves.
- Dedicated SuperDOM window — a standalone ladder window launched from the Control Panel. It is larger, can live on a second monitor, and it hosts the SuperDOM AI assistant side panel.
The single most important fact on this page: an AI chat in SabrTrader can only see the data of the window it is attached to. The chart's AI Chat / AI Trader is scoped to the candlestick chart — its instrument, timeframe, bars, indicators and drawings. It cannot read the depth of market, even when a DOM panel is docked to that same chart. To ask AI questions about the ladder — which columns to add, how to re-style it, what pulling and stacking is showing right now — you must use the AI panel inside the dedicated SuperDOM window.
The second important fact: DOM columns are not configured in Settings. Settings covers colours, themes, templates, price grouping and display detail. Columns are added and removed by right-clicking the column header row and choosing Add Column. This right-click capability is new in a recent SabrTrader update and now works on the chart-attached DOM panel as well as the dedicated SuperDOM.
| Surface | How to open | Has AI panel? | Primary use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chart-attached DOM panel | Right-click chart > depth of market | No (the chart AI is chart-scoped) | Execution and timing, synchronised with the candles |
| Dedicated SuperDOM window | Control Panel > SuperDOM | Yes — DOM-scoped AI chat | Configuration, ladder analysis, AI questions, large-ladder reading |
Feature Explanation: The SuperDOM, Level 3 Depth and the DOM-Scoped AI
The chart-attached DOM panel
Right-clicking a SabrTrader chart exposes a menu option that opens a depth-of-market panel beside the price axis. The panel docks to the chart and inherits the chart's instrument. Because it is part of the chart window, it auto-scrolls with price: when the market moves up or down, the ladder re-centres together with the candles, so the price you are reading on the chart and the price you are reading on the ladder stay aligned. The panel can be resized and the chart body pulled aside to give the ladder more horizontal room for columns.
The chart-attached panel has no AI side panel of its own. The AI chat available on that chart window is the Chart AI Trader, and it is scoped to the candlestick series.
The dedicated SuperDOM window
From the Control Panel, choosing SuperDOM opens a standalone depth-of-market window. On first open it loads a default ladder configuration: price column, bid size, ask size and the basic order-entry cells, with no order-flow columns added. Along its side sits the SuperDOM AI assistant, a chat panel whose context is the ladder itself: current columns, price grouping, colour theme, book depth and the live order book state.
Choose the dedicated window when you want a bigger ladder, a second-monitor layout, the full AI panel, or a configuration workspace separate from your execution chart.
Level 3 (market-by-order) rendering
When the connected data feed supplies Level 3 / market-by-order (MBO) depth, the ladder does not show a single aggregated size per price. Instead it lists each individual resting order at that price, broken down by order size. This is why many users first see a row of several numbers at one price and assume something is wrong — those numbers are separate orders queued at the same price, not separate price levels.
SabrTrader applies heat/brightness colouring to this breakdown: brighter cells emphasise larger resting orders, so a single 500-lot sitting inside a price level is visually distinct from ten 50-lots that happen to total the same size. That distinction matters because one large order behaves differently from many small ones — it can be pulled in one action, and it is more likely to be a deliberate defence of a level.
Data provider dependency
Whether you get Level 3 depends entirely on the upstream feed. Rithmic provides market-by-order data and is the route most prop firm evaluation accounts use, which is why MBO depth is commonly available to SabrTrader users on funded-account programmes. Other brokers and feeds may only provide Level 2 (market by price), which shows one aggregated total per level. If you are not on Rithmic, verify Level 3 availability with your provider before expecting per-order rows. See also Liquidity Heatmap & SuperDOM (MBO).
Context Scoping: Chart AI vs SuperDOM AI
Context scope is the set of data an AI assistant can read when answering. In SabrTrader, scope is defined by the window the assistant is embedded in. There is no shared global context between a chart and a SuperDOM.
| Assistant | Can see | Cannot see |
|---|---|---|
| Chart AI Trader / AI Chat | Instrument, bar type and interval, recent price bars, indicators on the chart, drawings, footprint cells and chart-level order-flow studies | The DOM ladder, bid/ask queue, DOM columns, price grouping, DOM theme — even if a DOM panel is docked to that chart |
| SuperDOM AI assistant | Current ladder configuration, which columns are active, price grouping, colour theme and template, order book depth and resting liquidity state | Chart bars, chart indicators, drawings, higher-timeframe structure |
Examples of questions that belong to each:
- Chart AI: "Summarise the trend on this 5-minute chart." "Where is the most recent break of structure?" "What do my footprint imbalances show on the last three bars?"
- SuperDOM AI: "Which order flow columns should I add for scalping?" "Critique my current ladder setup." "What is pulling and stacking in this book telling me right now?" "Apply a darker theme to this ladder."
If you ask the chart AI a ladder question, it will answer from chart data or give a generic textbook explanation. It cannot report your actual column set, your grouping, or what the book looks like at this moment. That is the single most common point of confusion reported by users.
For how to connect an LLM provider so either assistant works at all, see AI Setup: Connecting an LLM Provider to SabrTrader.
SuperDOM AI Starter Prompts
The SuperDOM AI panel ships with a library of starter prompts — pre-written questions you can click instead of typing. They are editable starting points, not fixed commands: change the trading style, name your instrument, state your tick size, and the answer becomes far more specific.
| Starter prompt | What it does | Best used when |
|---|---|---|
| New to the SuperDOM, walk me through this ladder | Explains each visible element of the ladder: price column, bid/ask size, the inside market, and any columns already present | First time using a depth-of-market ladder, or first time on MBO data |
| Set up this ladder to my instrument | Adjusts grouping, tick display and column choices for the contract you name | Switching from ES to NQ, CL, GC or any instrument with different tick size and typical book depth |
| Which order flow columns should I add for scalping and how do I read each one | Reads your current configuration, lists columns to add, and gives a read-this-way explanation per column, then offers an Apply button | Building a working ladder from the default layout |
| Re-style this ladder / apply a theme | Proposes colour and theme changes for contrast and readability | Ladder is hard to read at speed, or you are switching between light and dark workspaces |
| Critique my current setup — columns, grouping, colors — what's missing or slowing me down | Audits the existing ladder and reports redundancy, gaps and readability problems | After any round of changes, as a validation step |
| What is pulling and stacking in this book telling me right now | Explains the concept and relates it to the current resting liquidity state | Learning to interpret live book behaviour rather than static configuration |
| Find the price that matters most in this ladder | Identifies the price level carrying the most significant resting liquidity or activity | Selecting an area of interest for entries, stops or targets |
Editing guidance: replace "scalping" with "swing trading" to get columns weighted toward session context rather than tick-by-tick aggression; append the instrument and tick size ("for ES, 0.25 tick, RTH session, 2-10 minute holds") to remove generic advice.
The AI Column Recommendation and Apply Workflow
This is the core loop the SuperDOM AI is built around. It has five stages.
- Ask. Click or type the columns prompt, ideally with instrument and style named.
- Read. The AI inspects the ladder's current configuration — which columns exist, grouping, theme — so its answer is relative to what you already have, not a generic list.
- Recommend. It returns a what to add list. A typical scalping answer proposes Delta, Cumulative Delta, Imbalance, with Volume and Recent trades as optional additions. Each entry comes with an explanation of how to read it.
- Apply. An Apply button at the bottom of the response writes the proposed columns directly into the ladder. Nothing changes until you press it.
- Adjust. Add or remove individual columns afterwards via right-click > Add Column, and save the result as a template.
Suggestions are optional and reversible. Apply is a configuration write, not a trade action, and any column it adds can be removed again from the right-click menu.
This mirrors the AI apply/confirm workflow used elsewhere in SabrTrader, such as AI-generated alerts: the assistant proposes a written plan and nothing is committed until you press Apply.
DOM Column Reference
Each column below is a vertical data field rendered per price row on the ladder.
Bid size and Ask size
What it measures: resting limit buy volume at each price below the market (bid) and resting limit sell volume above it (ask).
How to read it: large resting size must be consumed or cancelled before price can pass through. Compare the total on each side for book imbalance.
When it misleads: displayed size is not committed size. It can be cancelled instantly, and iceberg orders display only a fraction of true size.
Level 3 per-order breakdown
What it measures: the individual orders making up a price level, each with its own size, with brightness emphasising the largest.
How to read it: one 400-lot behind a level is a single participant's decision; eight 50-lots are eight. The single large order is a cleaner read on intent but also a single click away from disappearing.
When it misleads: newcomers read each per-order row as a separate price level. It is not — all rows in that cell share one price.
Delta
What it measures: at a price level, the net of volume traded at the ask (aggressive buying) minus volume traded at the bid (aggressive selling).
How to read it: positive delta at a price means buyers crossed the spread more than sellers there. Strongly positive delta with no upward price progress is a classic absorption signature.
When it misleads: delta at a thin price with tiny volume is noise. Always read it against the volume at that level.
Cumulative Delta
What it measures: a running total of delta across the session or lookback period, tracking sustained aggression rather than a single print.
How to read it: a rising cumulative delta with rising price confirms buyer control; rising cumulative delta with flat or falling price is delta divergence and warns that aggression is being absorbed.
When it misleads: the session anchor matters. A cumulative total reset at the overnight open tells a different story to one reset at the RTH open.
Imbalance
What it measures: a lopsided ratio between buying and selling at or near a price, highlighted when it exceeds a threshold.
How to read it: clusters of same-side imbalances stacked across consecutive prices indicate directional pressure; isolated single imbalances usually do not.
When it misleads: in thin instruments or outside regular hours, low absolute volume produces extreme ratios that mean nothing.
Volume
What it measures: total traded volume accumulated at each price level.
How to read it: high-volume prices are reference levels — where business was done and where price is likely to react again. Think of it as a ladder-native slice of a volume profile.
When it misleads: volume is backward-looking. A high-volume shelf from three hours ago may be irrelevant after a regime change.
Recent trades
What it measures: the prices where transactions have just occurred, highlighted as fresh prints.
How to read it: it shows where activity is concentrated right now and makes it obvious when trading clusters at one price while the ladder refuses to move.
When it misleads: it carries no direction on its own — pair it with Delta to know whether those recent prints were buy- or sell-aggressed.
Right-Click Column Customization and Settings
Column management and visual settings live in two different places. Confusing the two is a frequent source of wasted time.
| Task | Where |
|---|---|
| Add or remove a ladder column | Right-click the column header area > Add Column |
| Colours and colour rules | SuperDOM Settings |
| Themes | SuperDOM Settings |
| Templates (save/load a full ladder configuration) | SuperDOM Settings |
| Price grouping / tick aggregation | SuperDOM Settings |
| Display detail options | SuperDOM Settings |
Right-clicking the header row opens the Add Column submenu, which lists the full column library — Delta, Imbalance, Cumulative Delta, Volume, Recent trades and the remaining available fields. Columns added by the AI's Apply button appear in this same list and can be unticked there.
Price grouping (also called tick aggregation) merges several ticks into one ladder row. On a wide-ranging or fast instrument this condenses the visible depth so more of the book fits on screen; on a tight instrument it can hide the per-tick detail a scalper depends on. It is a Settings control, not a column.
This right-click capability is new in a recent SabrTrader update. If you do not see Add Column, update the platform.
Adding the Same Columns to the Chart-Attached DOM
The right-click Add Column workflow now works inside the chart-attached DOM panel as well. The procedure is identical: open the DOM panel from the chart's right-click menu, pull the chart body aside to give the panel room, right-click the panel's column header area, choose Add Column, and tick the columns you want — for example Delta and Imbalance.
Why do this
The chart-attached panel's defining advantage is synchronised scrolling: it tracks the candlestick chart as price moves, so you read ladder and chart in one glance without re-centring anything. Adding order-flow columns gives you that synchronisation plus the ladder-level data you would otherwise have to switch windows for.
Duplication to think about
If your chart already runs a footprint chart, delta is already on screen per bar and per price. Adding a Delta column to the attached DOM duplicates that information. Duplication is not automatically wrong — the footprint shows delta for completed and forming bars, while the DOM column shows it live at the current price rows — but add it deliberately, not reflexively. Every column costs horizontal space and reading time.
A practical division of labour: use the dedicated SuperDOM as the configuration and analysis workspace (big ladder, full AI panel), and the chart-attached panel as the execution surface (narrow, synchronised, only the columns you act on). For a broader layout built around this idea, see Custom Order Flow Setup.
Trading Concepts You Can Ask the SuperDOM AI About
These are the order-flow concepts the ladder exposes. Each definition is followed by prompt wording that produces a useful, specific answer from the SuperDOM AI.
Depth of Market (DOM)
A price ladder showing resting bid and ask limit orders at each price around the current market. It requires a depth-enabled feed; a trades-only feed cannot populate it.
Prompt: "New to the SuperDOM, walk me through this ladder for ES — name every column currently visible and what each number means."
Level 2 (market by price) vs Level 3 (market by order)
Level 2 aggregates all resting size at a price into one total. Level 3 exposes each individual order and its size at that price.
| Read | Level 2 (MBP) | Level 3 (MBO) |
|---|---|---|
| Display at a price | One total, e.g. 400 | Individual orders, e.g. 250 / 100 / 50 |
| Large single order visible? | No — indistinguishable from many small ones | Yes, and brightness-emphasised |
| Pull detection | Total shrinks; cause unknown | You see which order left the queue |
| Queue composition | Hidden | Visible order by order |
| Typical availability | Most brokers and feeds | Rithmic and selected feeds only |
Order flow
The study of executed trades and resting liquidity to infer buyer and seller intent in real time, as opposed to inferring it from bar shapes alone.
Aggressive vs passive orders
An aggressive order crosses the spread and executes immediately — a market order, or a limit order priced through the book. A passive order rests in the book as displayed liquidity and waits. Delta exists because every trade pairs one aggressor with one passive counterparty.
Resting liquidity
Limit orders sitting at a price that must be consumed by aggressors or cancelled by their owners before price can trade through that level.
Pulling and stacking
Pulling is resting liquidity being cancelled ahead of price — the defence evaporates and price advances easily. Stacking is liquidity being layered at and around a level to defend it. Pulling precedes easy moves; stacking precedes rejection or stalling.
Prompt: "What is pulling and stacking in this book telling me right now, and at which prices?"
Spoofing
Posting large orders with no intent to fill, in order to influence other participants. On an MBO ladder it typically appears as a conspicuously large single order that is repeatedly pulled as price approaches and reposted when price retreats.
Absorption
Aggressive market orders being fully soaked up by passive resting liquidity without price making progress. On the ladder: heavy trading at one price, resting size repeatedly refreshed, price does not move.
Prompt: "Which columns should I watch together to spot absorption on this ladder, and what pattern should I look for?"
Iceberg orders
Large orders that display only a small visible portion and replenish as they are filled. The tell is a small displayed size that keeps trading and keeps reappearing — far more volume trades at the price than was ever displayed.
Delta divergence
Price closing up on negative delta, or down on positive delta. Aggression is not translating into movement, usually because the opposite side is absorbing it passively.
Imbalance clusters
Several same-side imbalances stacked at consecutive prices. Clusters carry more information than isolated imbalances because they show sustained one-sided aggression over a price range.
Key liquidity price
The price in the visible ladder carrying the most significant resting size or activity — the level most likely to act as a barrier, a reference for entries, or a stop location.
Prompt: "Find the price that matters most in this ladder and explain why it matters."
Scalping vs swing trading on the DOM
Scalping is a short-holding-period style targeting small moves; it relies on tick-by-tick ladder reads, so it wants Delta, Imbalance and Recent trades with tight price grouping. Swing trading uses the ladder only for entry timing into a decision already made on the chart; it wants Cumulative Delta and Volume with coarser grouping. Say which you are in the prompt — the recommended column set differs.
Tutorial: Configuring a SuperDOM with the AI Assistant
- Connect a depth-enabled feed. For Level 3 per-order depth, connect Rithmic. Confirm in the Control Panel connections list that the connection is active before opening a ladder. If your feed is Level 2 only, everything below still works — you simply see one aggregated size per price.
- Open the dedicated SuperDOM. In the Control Panel, choose SuperDOM. A standalone ladder window opens with the default configuration: price, bid size, ask size and no order-flow columns.
- Set the instrument. Point the SuperDOM at the contract you trade. Verify the inside market is updating; a static ladder means no data.
- Open the AI side panel. The SuperDOM AI assistant sits beside the ladder. Widen the window if the panel is cramped — the starter prompt list and the Apply button both live there.
-
Run the columns prompt with context. Click "Which order flow columns should I add for scalping and how do I read each one", then edit it before sending: add your instrument, tick size, session and typical hold time. Example:
Which order flow columns should I add for ES, 0.25 tick, RTH session, 1-5 minute holds, and how do I read each one? - Review the recommendations. The AI reads your current configuration and returns a what to add list — typically Delta, Cumulative Delta and Imbalance, with Volume and Recent trades optional — each with a reading explanation. Read the explanations before accepting; a column you cannot interpret is a column that slows you down.
- Press Apply. The proposed columns are written into the ladder. Nothing changes until this point.
- Fine-tune with right-click > Add Column. Right-click the column header area, open Add Column, and tick or untick individual columns. This is also where you remove anything Apply added that you do not want.
- Adjust colours, theme and grouping in Settings. Open SuperDOM Settings for colour rules, theme, display detail and price grouping. Set grouping so the depth you care about fits on screen without losing the tick resolution your style needs.
-
Save a template. Still in Settings, save the finished configuration as a template, named per instrument (for example
ES-scalp). Templates let you restore the layout instantly or apply it to another ladder. - Replicate on the chart-attached DOM. Right-click your chart to open the DOM panel, pull the chart body aside for room, then right-click the panel's column header > Add Column and add the columns you actually trade from. Skip anything already duplicated by a footprint on the same chart.
- Validate with the critique prompt. Back in the dedicated SuperDOM, run "Critique my current setup — columns, grouping, colors — what's missing or slowing me down". Act on redundancy and readability findings, then re-save the template.
- Verify against live tape before trading it. Watch the new configuration through a live session without acting on it. Confirm each column updates as you expect and that you can read the ladder at speed under pressure.
Best Practices
- Be specific in prompts. State instrument, tick size, session (RTH or overnight) and typical hold time. "Which columns for scalping" returns textbook advice; "which columns for NQ, 0.25 tick, RTH open, 30-second to 3-minute holds" returns a configuration you can use.
- Start with few columns and add one at a time. Apply the AI's core set, trade it for a session, then add a single column and evaluate whether it changed a decision. Columns you never act on are noise.
- Keep the ladder narrow enough to read at speed. A scalper's useful ladder is one glance wide. If you have to scan horizontally, you are too slow.
- Split the two surfaces by job. Dedicated SuperDOM for configuration, AI questions and analysis; chart-attached panel for execution with synchronised scrolling.
- Re-run the critique prompt after every change round. It is cheap, it catches redundancy, and it flags grouping or colour choices that hurt readability.
- Save one template per instrument. ES, NQ and CL have different tick sizes and book depths; one grouping setting cannot serve all three.
- Match price grouping to the instrument and style. Tight grouping for tick-level scalping; coarser grouping to see more of the book on wide-ranging contracts.
- Treat AI output as configuration advice, not a trade signal. The assistant can tell you which columns reveal absorption; it cannot tell you to buy.
- Verify Level 3 availability with your provider. Do not design a workflow around per-order rows until you have confirmed your feed delivers them.
- Pair the ladder with a chart-side read. Use the ladder for timing inside an area of interest identified on the chart — see Syncing Higher Time Frames for Better Entries.
- Attach exits before you need them. Pair DOM execution with an ATM strategy so a stop and target go on automatically at fill.
Common Mistakes
- Asking the chart AI about the ladder. The chart AI is scoped to candles and indicators. It cannot see your DOM even when the DOM panel is docked to the same chart. Use the dedicated SuperDOM's AI panel.
- Hunting for columns in Settings. Settings holds colours, themes, templates, grouping and detail options. Columns are added by right-clicking the column header and choosing Add Column.
- Assuming Level 3 is universal. MBO depth depends on the feed. Rithmic provides it; many brokers and feeds provide Level 2 only. Check before relying on per-order reads.
- Misreading per-order MBO rows as separate price levels. Several numbers in one cell are several orders queued at one price, not several prices.
- Stacking every available column. A ladder with ten columns cannot be read in the half-second a scalp entry allows. Add columns you will act on and remove the rest.
- Treating AI output as a signal. The assistant configures and explains. It does not predict direction, and its live-book commentary is interpretation, not a trade instruction.
- Duplicating delta on chart and DOM without purpose. If a footprint already shows delta per price, decide explicitly why the DOM column adds something before spending the space.
- Trusting displayed size as committed size. Resting liquidity can be cancelled instantly (pulling), hidden (icebergs), or posted deceptively (spoofing). Size on screen is an intention, not a guarantee.
- Reading delta or imbalance without volume context. Extreme ratios on tiny volume — common overnight — are statistical noise, not aggression.
- Applying AI suggestions live without observation. Watch a new ladder configuration through a session before trading from it.
- Expecting the standalone SuperDOM to scroll with the chart. Only the chart-attached panel is synchronised with the candlesticks. The dedicated window is independent by design.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can't the chart AI answer questions about my depth of market?
Because each SabrTrader AI chat is scoped to the window it lives in. The chart AI Trader can read the chart's instrument, timeframe, bars, indicators, drawings and footprint — but not the DOM ladder, even when a DOM panel is docked to that same chart. Ladder questions must go to the AI panel inside the dedicated SuperDOM window, which is scoped to the ladder's columns, grouping, theme and book state.
What is the difference between the chart-attached DOM and the dedicated SuperDOM?
The chart-attached DOM is a panel opened by right-clicking a chart. It docks beside the price axis and scrolls in alignment with the candlesticks as price moves, which makes it well suited to execution. It has no AI panel. The dedicated SuperDOM is a standalone window launched from the Control Panel. It is larger, can be placed on a second monitor, and includes the DOM-scoped AI assistant with its starter prompt library and Apply button. Both support right-click > Add Column.
Does SabrTrader support Level 3 market-by-order data?
Yes. When the connected feed supplies Level 3 (market-by-order) depth, the SabrTrader ladder renders each individual resting order at a price level with its own size, rather than one aggregated total. Brightness/heat colouring emphasises the largest resting orders. Availability depends entirely on your data provider.
Which data providers offer Level 3 (MBO) data for SabrTrader?
Rithmic provides Level 3 market-by-order data, and because most prop firm evaluation and funded accounts route through Rithmic, MBO depth is widely available to those users. Other brokers and feeds commonly supply Level 2 (market by price) only. Verify with your specific provider before assuming per-order depth. See Connecting SabrTrader to Rithmic.
Why does my ladder show several numbers at the same price level?
That is Level 3 market-by-order rendering. Instead of one aggregated total per price, the ladder lists each individual resting order and its size. All of those numbers share the same price — they are separate orders in the queue, not separate price levels. Brighter cells mark the largest orders.
Where do I add or remove SuperDOM columns?
Right-click the column header area at the top of the ladder and choose Add Column to see the full column library. Columns are not managed in Settings — Settings covers colours, themes, templates, price grouping and display detail. The right-click Add Column menu is new in a recent update and now works on the chart-attached DOM panel as well.
What do the Delta, Imbalance and Cumulative Delta columns show on the ladder?
Delta shows the net of volume traded at the ask minus volume traded at the bid at each price — positive means aggressive buyers dominated there. Cumulative Delta is a running total of delta across the session, used to track sustained aggression and spot divergence when price and cumulative delta disagree. Imbalance highlights a lopsided buy-versus-sell ratio at or near a price; clusters of same-side imbalances across consecutive prices are more meaningful than isolated ones.
Can I change the AI's column suggestions from scalping to swing trading?
Yes. The starter prompts are editable text, not fixed commands. Replace "scalping" with "swing trading" and the AI will weight its recommendations toward session context columns such as Cumulative Delta and Volume rather than tick-by-tick columns. Adding instrument, tick size, session and hold time improves the answer further.
Does clicking Apply permanently change my SuperDOM layout?
Apply writes the suggested columns into the current ladder, but it is reversible. Any column it adds can be removed from right-click > Add Column, and if you saved a template beforehand you can reload the previous configuration. Apply is a configuration action only — it never places or modifies orders.
What is pulling and stacking, and can the AI identify it live?
Pulling is resting liquidity being cancelled ahead of price, which removes the defence of a level and lets price move easily. Stacking is liquidity being layered at and around a level to defend it. The SuperDOM AI has a dedicated starter prompt — "What is pulling and stacking in this book telling me right now" — that explains the concept and relates it to the current book state. Treat its commentary as interpretation and a learning aid, not a trade signal.
Can I save my customized SuperDOM as a template?
Yes. SuperDOM Settings includes template saving, which stores the full ladder configuration — columns, colours, theme, grouping and detail options. Save one template per instrument, since tick size and typical book depth differ between contracts such as ES, NQ and CL.
Is the AI available in every part of SabrTrader?
AI assistance is embedded across the platform — charts, SuperDOM, alerts, trade performance, options and more. What changes is the scope: each assistant only sees the data of the window it is attached to. That is why a DOM question must be asked in the SuperDOM and a chart question on the chart.
What is the difference between Level 2 and Level 3 data?
Level 2 (market by price) shows the total resting size at each price level without revealing who posted it or how many orders make it up. Level 3 (market by order) exposes each individual order and its size at that level. Level 3 lets you see whether 400 lots is one participant or eight, and lets you watch a specific large order get pulled.
Do I need Level 3 data to use the SuperDOM AI assistant?
No. The AI assistant works on a Level 2 ladder as well — it can still recommend columns, re-style the ladder, critique your setup and explain concepts. Level 3 simply adds per-order detail to what the ladder displays and what the AI can comment on.
Should I use the dedicated SuperDOM or the chart DOM panel for trading?
A practical split: configure, analyse and ask AI questions in the dedicated SuperDOM, then execute from the chart-attached panel because it scrolls in alignment with the candlesticks. Traders who prefer a single large ladder on a second monitor can execute from the dedicated window instead — both support order entry and the same column library.
What is price grouping and when should I change it?
Price grouping (tick aggregation) combines several ticks into one ladder row to condense the depth view. Increase grouping on wide-ranging or fast instruments so more of the book fits on screen; keep it at one tick when scalping, where per-tick queue detail drives the decision. It is set in SuperDOM Settings, not through the column menu.
How do I write a prompt that gets a useful answer from the SuperDOM AI?
Include four things: the instrument, its tick size, the session you trade (RTH or overnight), and your typical hold time. Then state the outcome you want — a column list, a critique, a theme change, or an explanation. Example: "Critique my current ES ladder for 1-3 minute RTH scalps — which columns are redundant and is my grouping too coarse?"
Can the SuperDOM AI detect spoofing or iceberg orders?
It can explain both concepts and tell you which columns and ladder behaviours reveal them — rapid repeated pulling of a conspicuously large order for spoofing, a small displayed size that keeps trading and replenishing for icebergs. It does not label specific market participants' intent, and no tool can prove intent from the book alone.
Why does the attached DOM panel move with my chart but the standalone SuperDOM does not?
That is by design. The chart-attached panel is part of the chart window and re-centres with the candlesticks as price moves. The dedicated SuperDOM is an independent window with its own scrolling behaviour, so it can be placed on another monitor and used alongside multiple charts.
Does adding more columns slow the platform down?
The more relevant cost is cognitive, not computational: a crowded ladder cannot be read in the fraction of a second a fast entry allows. Add one column at a time, trade with it, and keep it only if it changed a decision.
Troubleshooting
There is no AI panel in the chart-attached DOM
This is by design. The chart-attached DOM panel has no AI chat of its own, and the chart's AI Trader is scoped to the candlestick series. Open the dedicated SuperDOM from the Control Panel and use its AI side panel for any ladder question.
The ladder shows only one number per price level instead of a per-order breakdown
Your feed is supplying Level 2 (market by price) data, which aggregates all resting size at a price into a single total. Per-order rows require Level 3 (market by order). Confirm Level 3 availability with your data provider; Rithmic provides it, many brokers do not.
Right-click does not show an Add Column menu
Right-click specifically on the column header area at the top of the ladder, not on the price cells. If the menu still does not appear, update SabrTrader — the right-click Add Column capability was introduced in a recent update and the chart-attached DOM gained it at the same time.
I pressed Apply but the ladder did not change
Check that the SuperDOM window containing the AI panel is the focused window — Apply writes to the ladder that assistant is attached to, not to another open DOM. If a template is loaded and locked, re-save or reload the template after applying. Also confirm the AI response actually contained column changes rather than only explanatory text.
Columns are present but completely blank
Blank order-flow columns mean no data is arriving. Check three things in order: the connection is active in the Control Panel; your account has market data permissions for that instrument; and the market is open. Columns such as Delta, Volume and Recent trades need live trades to populate.
The AI gives generic, textbook advice instead of advice about my ladder
The prompt lacks context. Add the instrument, tick size, session and hold time, and state the specific outcome you want. Also confirm you are asking in the dedicated SuperDOM's AI panel — the chart AI cannot read your ladder and will fall back on general explanation.
My SuperDOM does not scroll with the chart
You are using the standalone SuperDOM window, which is independent by design. Only the chart-attached DOM panel — opened by right-clicking the chart — re-centres in alignment with the candlesticks as price moves.
The ladder is too wide to read after applying the AI's columns
Remove columns you do not act on via right-click > Add Column, and increase price grouping in Settings so fewer rows cover more of the book. Then re-run the critique prompt to confirm nothing essential was dropped, and save the leaner configuration as a template.
Delta appears on both the chart footprint and the DOM, which is confusing
Decide which surface owns which read. A common split is footprint delta for completed bars on the chart and the DOM Delta column for the live inside-market rows. If the duplication serves no purpose, remove the DOM Delta column from the chart-attached panel and keep it only on the dedicated SuperDOM.
The AI panel is cut off or the starter prompt list is unreadable
Widen the dedicated SuperDOM window or drag the divider between the ladder and the AI panel. On a single-monitor layout, move the SuperDOM to the front and push the chart aside; the Apply button sits at the bottom of the AI response and needs vertical space to be visible.
Glossary
- Absorption
- Aggressive market orders being fully consumed by resting limit liquidity without price making progress. On the ladder it shows as heavy trading at one price while resting size is repeatedly refreshed and price does not move.
- Aggressive vs passive orders
- Aggressive orders cross the spread and execute immediately against resting liquidity; passive orders rest in the book as limit orders and wait to be filled. Every trade pairs one aggressor with one passive counterparty.
- AI apply/confirm workflow
- The two-step process in which the AI assistant proposes changes in a written plan and nothing is committed until you press Apply.
- Bid/ask spread
- The gap between the best bid (highest price a buyer will pay) and the best ask (lowest price a seller will accept), displayed at the centre of the DOM ladder. A widening spread signals thinning liquidity and higher execution cost.
- Book imbalance
- A meaningful difference between total resting bid size and total resting ask size, suggesting one side of the book is more heavily defended.
- Chart-attached DOM panel
- A depth-of-market ladder docked to a SabrTrader chart, opened by right-clicking the chart, which scrolls in alignment with the candlesticks as price moves. It supports right-click Add Column but has no AI panel of its own.
- Context scope of an AI assistant
- The set of data an embedded AI chat can read when answering. In SabrTrader, scope is defined by the window the assistant lives in: the chart AI sees chart data only, the SuperDOM AI sees ladder data only.
- Cumulative delta
- A running total of delta across a session or lookback period, showing whether aggressive buyers or sellers have been in control since the anchor point.
- Data provider / market data feed
- The upstream source that supplies price and depth data to the platform. The provider determines whether Level 2 or Level 3 depth is available.
- Delta
- The net difference between volume traded at the ask (aggressive buying) and volume traded at the bid (aggressive selling) over a bar, price level or session. Positive delta indicates aggressive buyers dominated; negative delta indicates aggressive sellers dominated.
- Delta divergence
- A condition where price closes up on negative delta, or down on positive delta, signalling that aggression is not translating into price movement — usually because the opposite side is absorbing it passively.
- Depth of Market (DOM)
- A price-ladder view of resting bid and ask limit orders at each price level around the current market, used for order-flow reading and precise order entry. It requires a depth-enabled feed rather than a trades-only feed.
- Iceberg orders
- Large orders that display only a small visible portion and replenish as they are filled, so far more volume trades at the price than was ever displayed.
- Imbalance
- A lopsided ratio between buying and selling at or near a price that signals one-sided aggression. Clusters of same-side imbalances across consecutive prices carry more information than isolated ones.
- Level 2 (market by price)
- Aggregated depth data showing the total resting size at each price level without revealing the individual orders that make up that total.
- Level 3 (market by order)
- Granular depth data that exposes each individual resting order and its size at a price level, so the queue composition at a price is visible rather than aggregated.
- Order flow
- The study of executed trades and resting liquidity to infer buyer and seller intent in real time, rather than inferring it from bar shapes alone.
- Price grouping / tick aggregation
- Combining multiple ticks into a single ladder row to condense the depth view, set in SuperDOM Settings. Coarser grouping shows more of the book; finer grouping preserves per-tick queue detail.
- Prompt engineering for trading tools
- Writing prompts that specify instrument, tick size, session and holding period so the AI returns actionable configuration advice instead of generic explanation.
- Prop firm data access
- The data routing used by proprietary trading firm evaluation and funded accounts, which commonly runs through Rithmic and therefore exposes market-by-order depth to SabrTrader.
- Pulling and stacking
- Pulling is resting liquidity being cancelled ahead of price, removing the defence of a level; stacking is liquidity being layered at and around a level to defend it.
- Recent trades column
- A ladder column highlighting the prices where transactions have just occurred, showing where activity is currently concentrated.
- Resting liquidity
- Limit orders waiting at a price level that must be consumed by aggressors or cancelled by their owners before price can trade through that level.
- Rithmic
- A futures market data and routing provider that supplies Level 3 (market-by-order) depth to SabrTrader and is the route most prop firm evaluation accounts use.
- Scalping
- A short-holding-period trading style that targets small price moves and relies heavily on ladder and order-flow reads, favouring fine price grouping and reactive columns such as Delta, Imbalance and Recent trades.
- Spoofing
- Posting large orders with no intent to fill in order to influence other participants, often visible on a market-by-order ladder as a large order repeatedly pulled as price approaches and reposted when price retreats.
- SuperDOM
- SabrTrader's depth-of-market ladder window, available as a dedicated standalone window launched from the Control Panel or as a panel docked to a chart. The dedicated window hosts the DOM-scoped AI assistant.
- Swing trading
- A longer-holding-period style in which DOM columns are used for entry timing rather than tick-by-tick decisions, favouring Cumulative Delta and Volume with coarser price grouping.
- Volume column
- A ladder column showing the traded volume accumulated at each price level, used to identify reference prices where significant business was done.