Im a bit confused about the meaning of an incomplete auction when it comes orderflow and footprint analysis.
For example in the below screenshot, the bar opened at 1726.25 and traded up to 1727. At that point there was trade on both the bid and the offer. For that to happen, the inside bid : offer would of had to have moved up to 1727.00 : 1727.25. The bar then ended up closing on it's lows.
From what i've seen most other people say, the 1727 level is now considered to be weak and incomplete. It would only be complete to the upside when there are 0 trades on the bid. For example if the 55 trades was instead 0, that would be considered complete.
My question is, why would that level be considered weak? In my mind it seems to be even stronger than if the auction was 'complete'. My reasoning for this is: There was a battle going on between the bulls and bears at 1726.75 : 1727.00. Then the bulls were able to break through 1727 resulting in the inside bid : offer being at 1727.00 : 1727.25. However at that point the bears were happy to continue selling, hitting the bid, but the bulls just disappeared. There were no more bulls interested in doing business at 1727.25. That to me is bearish and makes the level strong.
From an auction market perspective, there were buyers interested all the way up to 1727, but above that point they deemed prices were too expensive. Conversely sellers at that point saw 1727 as a good level to sell, therefore the auction moves down.
I would love to hear from other orderflow users ( DionysusToast , Silvester17 etc) on whether you think an incomplete auction results in a strong or weak level. Obviously this is all in the context of price trading in a potential trade zone,...not just some random area :)