Time and sales (the tape)
Time and sales, often called the tape, is the running list of trades in a stock as they happen, each with its time, price and number of shares. Reading the tape means watching that list to judge whether buyers or sellers are in control right now.
Why it matters to a small-cap momentum trader
A chart summarises; the tape shows each trade. When prints hit the offer faster and larger, buyers are paying up; a run of prints at the bid means sellers are hitting it. Momentum traders watch the tape speed up as a stock approaches a level, and watch a large offer on Level 2 get taken out print by print. A tape that goes quiet at a high is often the first sign the move is tiring.
How it is read
Colour. Each print is usually coloured by where it traded against the quote at that moment: at the offer or above it, buyers paying up; at the bid or below it, sellers hitting it; in between, inside the spread.
Size and speed. A run of small prints and one large block say different things, and so does a tape that suddenly speeds up.
There is no rule behind the tape. Reading it is a skill, and it is learned by watching.
Time and sales in Hindsight Markets
Time and sales shows that day's exchange prints in order as the replay clock reaches them, each coloured by where it traded against the quote: at the bid, at the ask, inside the spread, above or below. Slow the replay to half speed to practise reading it, or watch a trade you took again with your own fills drawn on the tape.
Practice this on a real past day in Hindsight Markets
Replay a real small-cap run at half speed and practise reading the tape before you put money behind what you see.