Overview
This guide teaches you how to use The Algo’s Dark Pool & Lit Pool tool — one of the most powerful features available for tracking institutional behavior, liquidity footprints, and large-scale capital rotation across the market.
A "lit pool" is a public trading venue, also known as a lit market, where buy and sell orders are transparently displayed to all participants.
A "dark pool" is a private exchange for institutional investors to trade large blocks of securities anonymously, preventing large orders from affecting public market prices.
#1: The Feed (Flow)
This table is the chronological list of every Dark Pool or Lit Pool print, depending on your filter (more on #3 and #4 later).
For each line item, you will see:
Column | Meaning |
Date / Time | When the print was reported |
Symbol | The stock or ETF receiving flow |
Type | Dark Pool or Lit Pool |
Price | Executed price of the transaction |
Current | Real-time market price |
% | Percentage difference between print price and current price |
Size | Number of shares |
Total | Dollar value of the transaction |
MAs | Distance from key moving averages |
Value | Visual bar showing the magnitude of total dollar flow |
MAs
Hover or the MAs to see
🔴 = Trading below the 50DMA or 200DMA
🟢 = Trading above the 50DMA or 200DMA
As a rule of thumb:
Total $ | Interpretation |
$5M–$25M | Normal rotation |
$25M–$75M | Strong attention |
$75M–$250M | Institutional activity |
$250M+ | Major positioning |
Spot Accumulation:
Many prints on the same ticker
Increasing size
Price stable or rising afterward
Especially if Dark Pools
Spot Distribution:
Repeated prints at tops
Concentration around a key pivot
Price struggles above the print zone
Similar stocks (sector) showing synchronized prints
#2: Summary
This table shows the highest dollar value of Stocks (left) and ETFs (right) traded for the respective calendar period.
"All" provides a Summary of both Dark Pool and Lit Pool prints
"Dark" provides a Summary of Dark Pool prints
"Lit" provides a Summary of Lit Pool prints
For each line item, you will see:
Column | Meaning |
Ticker | Security being traded |
Name | The name of the Security (Stock or ETF) |
P/L | Profit or Loss on all the prints at the Level |
Value | Visual bar showing the magnitude of total dollar flow |
How to read the "Smart Money":
Higher profit → more momentum for the Bulls
Higher loss → more momentum for the Bears
#3: Dark Pool Filter
Pressing "Dark Flow" switches the feed (#1) to only show Dark Pool prints.
Nothing else changes:
Date filter remains the same
Columns remain the same
Search stays active
Dark Flow = “Only show me the hidden institutional trades.”
#4: Lit Pool Filter
Pressing "Lit Flow" switches the feed (#1) to only show Lit Pool prints.
Nothing else changes:
Date filter remains the same
Columns remain the same
Search stays active
Lit Flow = “Only show me the public institutional trades.”
#5: Levels
This table is a summary of prints (levels) for an individual security:
Search for a single ticker
Click on "Levels"
"All" provides a Summary of both Dark Pool and Lit Pool prints
"Dark" provides a Summary of Dark Pool prints
"Lit" provides a Summary of Lit Pool prints
For each line item, you will see:
Column | Meaning |
Level | Executed price of the transaction |
Type | Dark Pool, Lit Pool or Both |
Volume | Profit or Loss on all the prints displayed |
Value | Visual bar showing the magnitude of total dollar flow |
P/L | Profit or Loss on all the prints at the Level |
% of Avg Vol | Value, as a percent (%) of daily average volume |
Pools tell you where the whales moved.
Levels tell you how the market reacts.