# What is DOM?

> Also called: Order book, Ladder, Price ladder, Level 2, Depth of market

**In short.** The DOM, or depth of market, is the live order book displayed as a ladder of prices: resting bid sizes on one side, resting ask sizes on the other, with the last trade in the middle. It shows the passive side of the market, where limit orders are waiting, which the footprint (executed trades) does not.

The DOM is read for the size on the levels near price, how fast it refreshes, and whether orders are pulled as price approaches (spoofing or genuine withdrawal) or added (stacking). Ten levels each side is standard; some feeds give the full book.

On its own the DOM moves too fast to read on NQ. The heatmap keeps a history of the book so that pulled, stacked and refilled levels remain visible; [DeepDom](https://my.deepcharts.com/redirect/deepdom?affId=OFF&utm_source=fillprint&utm_medium=affiliate) is DeepCharts' version of that view.

- Guides on this term: [How to read a liquidity heatmap, wall by wall](https://fillprint.io/en/journal/reading-the-liquidity-heatmap)
- Read next: [Liquidity heatmap](https://fillprint.io/en/glossary/liquidity-heatmap)
- Read next: [Iceberg order](https://fillprint.io/en/glossary/iceberg-order)
- Read next: [Order flow](https://fillprint.io/en/glossary/order-flow)

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