I get a lot of emails from people asking me about what I actually look at throughout the day when I'm trading. As an intra-day trader, my biggest tool is my order book (the above screenshot is my order book from today trading the Emini S&P futures), and this is what I spend 95% of my time looking at. I know a lot of people out there are looking at charts on various time frames, but the simple fact of the matter is that a chart is historical. Even if it's a quick chart such as a 1min chart.... it's still 1min old. Think of it this way.... do you think the guys in the pits are running about looking at charts? ..... No they're not...
As traders we need to know how much is being traded and at what prices. A professional grade order book will not only give you the depth of market from the bid and offer, but also include information such as how many contracts are currently trading into the bid/offer as well as the total amount of contracts traded at each price. We can use this information to read the supply and demand in the markets which is reading order flow.
If you're an intra-day trader and you're just looking at charts, I suggest you close them down and get yourself a professional grade order book if you want to last as a trader.
