Sometimes the market gives you a second chance. Micron Technology Inc. (MU) was having a rough morning on November 21, down as much as 5% in the first hour of trading. Then something interesting happened in the order flow data.
At 11:01 AM EST, with Micron trading at $194.50, a proprietary signal called Power Inflow lit up. This isn't your standard technical indicator. It's designed to detect when both institutional and retail traders are suddenly shifting their attention to the buy side, and it tends to flash only in the first two hours of trading when those moves are happening in real time.
What followed was textbook momentum. The stock reversed its morning losses and climbed steadily through the afternoon, eventually hitting $212.00 by 2:45 PM EST. That's a 9% move from the signal price, which is the kind of intraday swing that makes order flow traders pay attention.
How Order Flow Signals Work
The Power Inflow alert comes from TradePulse, which tracks real-time buying and selling trends by analyzing trade volume, timing, and order size. The idea is simple: price tells you what happened, but order flow tells you who's doing what right now. Are institutions stepping in? Is retail piling on? Are both groups moving in the same direction?
When the data shows a strong trend toward buying activity early in the session, it can signal a high probability of continued bullish movement for the rest of the day. That's the theory, anyway, and Micron's performance on November 21 was a pretty clean example of it playing out.
The stock was in freefall during the opening hour. Then order flow shifted decisively. Both retail and institutional interest flipped to the buy side shortly after the Power Inflow signal triggered, and the price followed that momentum upward.
The Micron Trade Setup
Here's what the numbers looked like. At the time of the Power Inflow signal, MU was at $194.50. Following the alert, the stock climbed to an intraday high of $212.00 by 2:45 PM EST, marking an 8.99% gain from the signal price.
For traders monitoring order flow analytics, this was a potential entry opportunity during what looked like a downtrend. The signal identified the moment when sentiment shifted, giving active traders a chance to catch the reversal before it became obvious on the price chart.
Order flow analytics go beyond basic volume indicators by examining the granular details of market activity. They reveal not just how much is being traded, but the timing and size of those orders across different types of traders. This provides a more nuanced view of market sentiment and price behavior, helping traders make more informed decisions about entry and exit points.
Why This Matters
The Micron example illustrates why some traders prioritize order flow data over traditional technical analysis. A standard chart would have shown a stock declining sharply in early trading. Order flow data showed something different: a building wave of buying interest that was about to overwhelm the selling pressure.
Traders who acted on the Power Inflow signal at $194.50 could have captured a meaningful intraday gain by the afternoon. It's a reminder that understanding who's buying and selling, not just at what price, can provide an edge in identifying momentum shifts and potential reversals before they fully materialize in price action.
Of course, no signal works every time, and past performance doesn't guarantee future results. But when you see institutional and retail traders suddenly moving in sync after a sharp morning decline, it's worth paying attention to what the order flow is telling you.