Why Futures Markets Are Different From Forex

Futures order flow and spot forex order flow are not the same thing.

Exchange-traded futures such as NQ and ES trade through centralized exchange order books for their respective contracts.

Spot forex is largely an over-the-counter market, with trading distributed across banks, brokers, and other liquidity providers.

That means a futures DOM can provide visibility into the displayed orders available on the relevant exchange, subject to the data feed.

A retail forex order book generally does not represent the entire global spot forex market.

This distinction matters when comparing footprint charts, volume, and liquidity tools.

Before interpreting order flow, understand which market the data represents and what information your feed actually includes.