Obviously the DOM/Tape is not as useful the further out your timeframe is so I would like responses from intraday traders only. Useful? Useless? What's your take?
If I recall correctly based on your posts, you are using the DOM successfully, correct? Are you still finding it beneficial? (just trying to find the reasons behind your question, and perhaps you'll looking to expand?) My experience with the DOM is limited. I have seen videos where some traders are able to use it, and in fact, being aware of which orders keep getting pulled (the spoofing), allowed them to actually get a sense of market direction. But in my opinion, where a trader intends to trade (the DOM), isn't nearly as important as where a trader actually traded, the tape. The next question though is how do you read the tape. Do you watch T&S whiz by for each and every contract? Do you filter based on volume greater than 10 or 20? Perhaps you just watch a 1 tick chart move, which would be sort of like watching the tape, or some other fast type of chart? The reason why I mention all this is because there are many ways to read the tape, and saying how one uses it would first be necessary before they say if they found it useful or not. In some ways I think, everyone is reading the tape. A 1 minute bar is essentially just all the transactions grouped together into that 1 minute bar.
I am trying to get a handle on how many other retail traders use the tape/Dom just out of curiosity. Yes, the DOM/Tape is still my primary trading tool. I watch the stacking and pulling of orders on the DOM and it helps me get a good picture of liquidity. I do not consider many levels past the two on each side closest to the inside. I watch both a consolidated large trader tape looking for size and also an all trades tape to get an idea of pace.