“Tape reading is an old technique that day traders used to analyze the price and volume of a given stock. Tape reading analysis is sometimes referred to as Time and Sales analysis.

“From around the 1860s through the 1960s, stock prices were transmitted over telegraph lines on the ticker tape that included a ticker symbol, price and volume. These technologies were phased out in the 1960s with the rise of personal computers and electronic communication networks – or ECNs.” – Investopedia

“Modern tape reading involves looking at electronic order books to analyze where a stock price may be headed. Unlike stock tickers, these order books include non-executed trades, which provides a higher level of detail into the market at any given time.”– Investopedia

“Many brokers provide access to these order books in the form of Level 2 quotes (sometimes written “Level II”). In advanced cases, programmatic traders may use the information when building trading algorithms.

Interactive Brokers, for example, provides a function called “reqMktDepth” that lets traders stream order book data for analysis. These insights can prove extremely helpful when developing modern trading algorithms.”– Investopedia

Questions or suggestions?

Please reach out if you have any further questions or suggestions.