How It Works

How the ratio is calculated.

A plain-language walk-through of what BitClock's ratio measures and where it comes from. This page describes the metric and how it is measured — it is not trading guidance, and it does not tell you what to do at any given reading.

In plain English: a live order book holds resting sell orders (asks) stacked above the current price and resting buy orders (bids) below it. BitClock measures the size on each side in a band around the live price and divides ask depth by bid depth — one number for how the book is stacked right now. A reading of 1.0 means the two sides inside the band are equal; above 1.0 the ask side is bigger, and below 1.0 the bid side is bigger. Everything below is simply how that one number gets measured.

01 — Data Source

Real resting orders, not trade history

BitClock reads live resting limit orders straight from the exchange's public order-book feed — actual bids and asks sitting on the book, not a log of trades that already happened.

02 — The Calculation

Ask depth over bid depth

Resting ask depth above the current price is measured against resting bid depth below it, within a band around the live price. The result is a single ratio: how the book is stacked at this moment.

03 — Reading The Clock

One number, continuously updated

At 1.0 the two sides are equal; above 1.0 the ask side is bigger, below 1.0 the bid side is bigger. BitClock shows you the number — what you do with it is yours to decide.

Worked Example

The math behind one reading.

812.4 BTCAsk Depth
÷
606.1 BTCBid Depth
1.34Ratio Sample
Bid vs. Ask DepthSample
ASK812.4 BTCBID606.1 BTC
812.4 ÷ 606.1 =1.34 — ask depth over bid depth, in the band around price.
NoteThis page is intentionally descriptive in tone — it explains what the metric is and how it is measured. It is not, and will not become, personalized financial advice or “when the ratio hits X, do Y” prescriptive guidance.