We define Directional Alpha as a signal that exhibits a consistent positive or negative relationship with forward returns.
Pre-executed results — free to run on preview data, or use the CLI with DEMO-KEY.
Browse the catalog and pull point-in-time microstructure metrics — no L2 reconstruction, no tick archive to maintain.
Every notebook runs end to end on preview data with a free account, in the browser or through the CLI.
Swap the preview key for your own and the same code pulls the full history through the Python package or the API.
This notebook introduces order-flow analytics with the `aperiodic` Python package. We focus on a single large-cap instrument — Binance BTC perpetuals (`perpetual-BTC-USDT:USDT`) — over the exact six-month window from September 1, 2025 through February 28, 2026, using 1-hour observations.
View notebookFrom raw order flow to a ranked, backtestable signal — every step in runnable code.
Need the ticks behind this metric? Prime + Raw includes raw quotes.
/api/v1/data/l1_liquidity
L1 (Top of Book)
spreadSpreadLast best ask price minus best bid price in the intervalspread_bpsSpread (bps)Last bid-ask spread in basis points of the midpricespread_depth_ratioSpread/Depth RatioLast bid-ask spread divided by total top-of-book quantitytotal_depthTotal DepthLast total top-of-book quantity across bid and askdollar_depth_bidBid Dollar DepthLast bid-side top-of-book notionaldollar_depth_askAsk Dollar DepthLast ask-side top-of-book notionaltotal_dollar_depthTotal Dollar DepthLast total top-of-book notional across bid and askspread_avgAvg SpreadAverage bid-ask spread in the intervalspread_bps_avgAvg Spread (bps)Average bid-ask spread in basis points over the intervalspread_depth_ratio_avgAvg Spread/Depth RatioAverage spread-to-depth ratio over the intervaltotal_depth_avgAvg Total DepthAverage total top-of-book quantity across bid and ask in the intervaldollar_depth_bid_avgAvg Bid Dollar DepthAverage bid-side top-of-book notional in the intervaldollar_depth_ask_avgAvg Ask Dollar DepthAverage ask-side top-of-book notional in the intervaltotal_dollar_depth_avgAvg Total Dollar DepthAverage total top-of-book notional across bid and ask in the interval# Install the Aperiodic CLI into ~/.local/bin
mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin"
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aperiodic-io/cli/main/install.sh | INSTALL_DIR="$HOME/.local/bin" bash
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
# Free preview — no API key required
aperiodic l1_liquidity --preview \
--exchange binance-futures \
--symbol perpetual-BTC-USDT:USDT \
--interval 5m \
--timestamp exchange \
--start-date 2025-05-01 \
--end-date 2025-05-31 \
--output-dir ./data && echo "Saved to $PWD/data"timestampreqstringTimestamp source. 'exchange' uses the exchange-reported timestamp, 'true' uses actual arrival time at our servers.
exchangetrueintervalreqstringAggregation time interval for the data. Sub-minute intervals (15s, 30s) require a Tier 3 subscription.
15s30s1m5m15m30m1h4h1dexchangereqstringSource exchange for the data.
binance-futuresokx-perpshyperliquid-perpssymbolreqstringTrading pair symbol in the format of Atlas' universal symbology: https://github.com/aperiodic-io/atlas
start_datereqstring<date>Start date for the data range (YYYY-MM-DD format). Data is partitioned by year and month.
end_datereqstring<date>End date for the data range (YYYY-MM-DD format). Must be greater than or equal to start_date.
Successful response with download URLs for every file covering the range — one per month before 2026-08-01, one per day from 2026-08-01 onwards
filesobject[]requiredFiles covering the requested date range, in chronological order. Data before 2026-08-01 is split by month (one file per calendar month, no `day`); data from 2026-08-01 onwards is split by day (one file per calendar day, with `day` set). The changeover falls on a month boundary, so a given month is served entirely one way or the other; a range spanning it returns the earlier months as monthly files followed by a daily file per day.
yearintegerrequiredYear of the data file
monthintegerrequiredMonth of the data file (1-12)
dayintegerDay of the data file (1-31). Present only on daily files, i.e. those covering 2026-08-01 onwards. Absent on monthly files, which cover an entire calendar month.
urlstring<uri>requiredPresigned URL for direct file download (valid for 5 minutes). URLs are served from dataset-specific subdomains, e.g. ohlcv.aperiodic.io, trade-metrics.aperiodic.io, l1-metrics.aperiodic.io, l2-metrics.aperiodic.io, derivative-metrics.aperiodic.io.
{
"files": [
{
"year": 2026,
"month": 6,
"url": "https://ohlcv.aperiodic.io/binance-futures/1h/BTCUSDT/2026-06.parquet?X-Amz-Expires=300&..."
},
{
"year": 2026,
"month": 7,
"url": "https://ohlcv.aperiodic.io/binance-futures/1h/BTCUSDT/2026-07.parquet?X-Amz-Expires=300&..."
},
{
"year": 2026,
"month": 8,
"day": 1,
"url": "https://ohlcv.aperiodic.io/binance-futures/1h/BTCUSDT/2026-08-01.parquet?X-Amz-Expires=300&..."
},
{
"year": 2026,
"month": 8,
"day": 2,
"url": "https://ohlcv.aperiodic.io/binance-futures/1h/BTCUSDT/2026-08-02.parquet?X-Amz-Expires=300&..."
}
]
}
Prefilled with the shared DEMO-KEY and a free preview slice — send the request to see live data, no account required.
/api/v1/data/preview/l1_liquidity?timestamp=exchange&interval=5m&exchange=binance-futures&symbol=perpetual-BTC-USDT%3AUSDT&start_date=2025-05-01&end_date=2025-05-31