Learn
Learn to read the tape.
Big trades are easier to read than they look. Start with the five-minute guide, then come back whenever a word or an idea is new.
Start here
Read the tape in five minutes. Eight short steps, each with an example you can try.
9 articles
Articles
Short reads on one idea at a time, like why ranks compare a ticker only with itself, or what makes a Late Report late.
Read the articlesWhat a print is, and why size comes first
A print is one reported trade, and its dollar size is the first thing worth checking.
How big is big: rank, percentile and the size ladder
BigTape measures every print two ways, by its dollar size and by its percentile among all trades in that ticker, and the size ladder shows both at once.
Why BigTape never says buy or sell
Every trade has both a buyer and a seller, and public trade reports do not say which one started it.
Lit and Dark prints: where a trade happens
Every print in BigTape is Lit or Dark, and its color tells you where the trade happened and what was visible before it.
Dark Levels, and the alerts about them
A Dark Level marks a price zone where heavy off-exchange trading added up, and the Revisit and Level Break alerts tell you what price did there later.
Regular prints and Sweeps: two shapes
Every print is a regular print or a Sweep, and its shape tells you which: a circle or a diamond, in the Lit or Dark color.
Extended Hours: trading before the open and after the close
Trades outside 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern are ranked and drawn like any other print, on shaded time. Here is what they tell you and what they do not.
Delayed and real-time data: knowing what you are looking at
Every BigTape screen tells you how current its data is, and this guide explains each data state and the times you will see.
A calm way to watch the tape
A short routine for following big trades without watching all day, built on favorites, alerts that open the print and one catch-up card.
3 bounded cohorts with results
Studies
Our research write-ups. Each one says what we tested, how we tested it and what we found, including results that didn't hold up.
See the studiesBigTape's studies ask plain questions about big trades, such as how rare a #1 Print is and when big prints arrive during the day.
We publish each study's question and method before we run it. You can see exactly what will be measured, on which trades and over which dates, before anyone knows the answer. Publishing first also means the method cannot quietly change later to suit a result.
Each study page sets out its definitions, the trades it includes, what it will report and what it cannot show. Three bounded cohorts now have descriptive results; the broader planned studies remain separate. Until a result is available, any chart on a study page is an illustration on generated sample data, and it is labeled that way. When a result is published, it sits on the same page as the plan, so you can check one against the other.
The studies describe the past. They do not predict prices or recommend trades, and they never infer a trade's side.
How rare is a #1 Print?
A planned study of how often a ticker sets a New #1 Print, and how that rate changes with the length of its history.
When do big prints arrive?
A published five-session supplemental cohort of where $100,000-plus prints fall in the trading day, with the broader Top 100 study still planned.
How often does price revisit a Dark Level?
A planned study of how often price returns to a Dark Level, measured beside ordinary price zones so it describes returns without implying they predict anything.
Big prints and busy days
A published five-session supplemental cohort measuring co-occurrence between $100,000-plus prints and busy days; it makes no causal claim.
For moving averages, VWAP, RSI and MACD, see Chart studies on the Features page.
28 terms
Glossary
Every BigTape term in one plain line, with its mark. The app uses the same words, so what you learn here holds everywhere.
Open the glossary#1 Print This ticker's largest single trade by dollar value since 2016.
Top 10 / Top 100 One of this ticker's 10 or 100 largest trades since 2016.
Top 0.1% Bigger than 99.9% of this ticker's trades since 2016; $50,000 minimum.
Lit Traded on a public stock exchange.
Dark Traded off-exchange, at a private venue or inside a broker.
Sweep Specially flagged trades landing on two or more venues within 5 milliseconds.