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Trapped traders on a BTC Bid × Ask footprint chart

BTC on 15-minute bars in the 0xArchive Terminal, 2026-10-23.

Open on a chart

Load it on BTC 15m in the terminal, then change its settings or open it in the script editor.
Traders who opened on the wrong side of a bar’s busiest price: most of the bar’s new longs opened wholly above its point of control, and the bar closed back below it, so they are underwater at the close. New shorts below the PoC on a bar that closed above it are the mirror. A footprint shows where takers bought; only each fill’s takerWhy says which of them opened a position. The rows where they opened are tinted, deeper where more opened, and outlined, leaving the footprint’s numbers readable. A line at their average entry runs right until price trades back to it, where they can get out flat, or until the watch ends; while it stands it is tagged with how much is trapped. The share is of the bar’s own new positions, so a market where most buying opens longs (HYPE: three quarters of it, in October 2026) is not trapped on every bar. A second input asks for at least 5% of the bar’s volume, so a handful of new positions is not a trap.

How it works

trades().onTrade adds each opening fill’s size to a tallyBy keyed by its row, Math.floor(t.price / chart.rowSize), and side. On each closed bar, profile.bar().poc() at chart.rowSize gives the point of control on the footprint’s rows, and the rows past it are summed. The entries are kept in state.lists and drawn on the newest bar, as Large taker orders draws its levels.

Try changing

  • Count only longs opened in the bar’s top third, the ones that bought the high.
  • Tag the entry line with how many bars it has stood.

The script

trapped-traders.ts

Next step

See the next example, Stopped out at the extreme.
Last modified on October 23, 2026