Posted by For real-time volume, the answer depends on what market you’re trading.
Level 1 Data
Level 1 provides:
- Last traded price
- Bid price
- Ask price
- Last trade size (volume per trade)
- Total traded volume
If your goal is:
- See real-time candle volume
- Use volume indicators on charts
- Monitor tick volume in Forex
- Analyze volume spikes
Level 1 data is sufficient.
Level 2 Data (Market Depth / DOM)
Level 2 provides:
- All bid orders at multiple price levels
- All ask orders at multiple price levels
- Order book liquidity
- Market depth
- Order flow information
If your goal is:
- See resting liquidity
- Analyze absorption
- Track large limit orders
- Trade using DOM
- Perform order flow analysis
You need Level 2 data.
For XAUUSD Specifically
Most retail brokers provide:
- Tick volume only (not centralized exchange volume)
- Level 1 quotes
Since spot Forex and spot Gold (XAUUSD) are OTC markets, there is no single centralized volume source.
Professional traders often use:
- CME Gold Futures (GC) volume
- CME Level 2 Order Book
- Footprint charts
- DOM (Depth of Market)
For your liquidity sweep and order flow style trading, I would recommend:
| Purpose | Data Needed |
|---|---|
| Volume indicator on chart | Level 1 |
| Real-time trade volume | Level 1 |
| Footprint charts | Level 1 + Time & Sales |
| DOM trading | Level 2 |
| Liquidity analysis | Level 2 |
| Order flow trading | Level 2 |
Best Setup for Gold Traders
- TradingView for charting.
- CME Gold Futures (GC) real volume feed.
- Level 2 Market Depth from futures data.
- Footprint/Order Flow software such as:
- Bookmap
- ATAS
- Sierra Chart
If your objective is to identify liquidity sweeps before they happen on XAUUSD, Level 2 market depth from CME Gold Futures is significantly more useful than standard Level 1 volume.