What are they? Where you can see all the offers, not just the highest bid and lowest ask? Can I get them at interactivebrokers? And can one trade profitably using the simple system of watching them, and when a ton of orders pop up on sell side or buy side, act as if that was going to be downward/upward pressure, and sell/buy accordingly? I'm sure its not that simple, just curious how they might be used. Thanks!
Yes, yes, and it's not that simple. At IB they're charged for on a per exchange basis. And there's so much spoofing and iceberg orders and hidden orders that it's tough to infer anything from its face value. I use it for a confirmation of my belief of likely price movement, or (more importantly) as an early "something's wrong" indicator. It provides insight into liquidity...how you use that is up to you. And there have been doctoral theses done about how to use it.
Level 2 quotes is The Matrix...that's how Japanese traders CIS and BNF make their millions, I'm a highly visual, right-brained, guy...I stare at a chart image picture to glean my wisdom and market insight that is the past, present, and future unfolding dynamically, malleable patience and assumptions ,