Bookmap Alternative: Order Flow Heatmap in the Browser

Bookmap is the best-known order flow heatmap, but it's Windows-only and runs $39-$99 per month. MarketByOrder is a browser-based alternative built around the same idea: an order book heatmap alongside footprint charts and a DOM ladder, in one workspace. No install, runs on Mac, Linux, and iPad. Try up to 3 replays per day with 5 minutes of total replay time free, using our included market data. A paid plan is required for more replay time. Below is the side-by-side.

Quick Comparison

Feature	Bookmap	MarketByOrder
Cost	$39-$99/mo	Paid plans + daily preview
Platform	Windows desktop	Browser (Mac, Win, Linux, iPad)
Liquidity heatmap	Yes	Yes
Market depth	Full depth with supported paid data feed	Level 2 now; full depth planned
Footprint chart	Add-on / paid tier	Yes
DOM ladder	Yes	Yes
Time & sales	Yes	Yes
Live trading	Yes	No (replay-focused)
Market replay	Yes	Yes (tick-level)
Setup	Install + data feed + license	Sign up, ~1 minute

What Bookmap Still Does Better

There are tradeoffs. If you need any of the following, Bookmap is the better tool:

Live trading. Bookmap connects to brokers and supports live execution. MarketByOrder is replay-focused and does not.
Real-time streaming sessions. Watching live order book changes for hours during the trading day is what Bookmap was built for.
More markets and feeds. Bookmap supports a wider set of exchanges and direct connections, including native CME and crypto exchange feeds.

If your goal is live execution on a broad set of markets, this is not going to replace Bookmap.

What MarketByOrder Does Better

Runs anywhere. Browser-based, so it works on Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, and iPad - none of which Bookmap supports natively.
Built for replay practice. Replay any past session as if it were live. The interface is designed around skill development rather than live execution.
Heatmap, footprint, and DOM in one workspace. No add-ons. Switch between views or run them side by side in the same browser tab.

How an Order Flow Heatmap Works

The vertical axis is price, the horizontal axis is time. Brightness represents how many limit orders are resting at each price at each moment. Bright zones build when liquidity accumulates and fade when orders are pulled or absorbed. Same logic Bookmap uses, applied to the same kind of MBP feed.

The heatmap is the passive side of the market - resting limit liquidity. It pairs naturally with two other included views: the DOM ladder for current liquidity at the top of book, and footprint charts for the active side - executed volume at each price level.

Check out the heatmap

Below is an ES heatmap: resting depth over time as color, best bid and best offer as step lines, and every trade in view as a size-scaled dot.

Customize It

None of it is fixed behaviour. The whole view is the script beside it, and you edit it inside the app: how strongly the book is painted, where the dot size scale tops out, which side gets which colour. Hover a line to see what it puts on the chart.

Heatmap presethover a line

const MIN_RADIUS = 3

const MAX_RADIUS = 20

const MAX_SIZE = 50 // size that reaches MAX_RADIUS

const BASELINE_MS_PER_PX = 35

const BUY = 'rgba(59, 130, 246, 0.88)'

const SELL = 'rgba(239, 68, 68, 0.88)'

const FLAT = 'rgba(156, 163, 175, 0.88)'

// Resting size at each price, painted under the tape.

chart.depth = 1

// The live edge tracks the clock rather than stepping one

// candle at a time, which a candle wider than the viewport

// can no longer do.

chart.scroll = 'continuous'

// No rows and no numbers: the depth raster is the display.

chart.candle(() => {})

chart.frame((view, draw) => {

const zoom = Math.min(1, BASELINE_MS_PER_PX / view.msPerPx)

// view.trades is UNFILTERED, so this filter is the trade

// size control. view.minTradeSize is the instrument's

// own floor (ES 20, most 1).

for (const trade of view.trades) {

if (trade.size < view.minTradeSize) continue

const t = (Math.min(trade.size, MAX_SIZE) - 1) / (MAX_SIZE - 1)

const radius = (MIN_RADIUS + (MAX_RADIUS - MIN_RADIUS) * t) * zoom

if (radius < 1) continue

draw.circle({

time: trade.time, price: trade.price,

radius,

color: trade.side === 'buy' ? BUY

: trade.side === 'sell' ? SELL : FLAT,

})

}

})

How to Get Started

Create a MarketByOrder account.
Pick a symbol and a date, and replay the session.

For a broader comparison of order flow tools and pricing, see best order flow backtest software. For DOM-specific comparisons against Jigsaw and Quantower, see jigsaw and quantower DOM alternative.

Try the Bookmap alternative in your browser

Start practicing

See plans and pricing