By Dr. Efrat Levy | Quant Trader & Co-Founder of E.G. Indicators and CTP Academy
Most people don’t know this, but my journey didn’t start with markets.
It started with machines.
Firewalls. Network sniffers. Encryption…
Cybersecurity.
Back then, I spent my days trying to understand how systems behave under pressure—how information leaks out in the smallest, subtlest ways.
And one specific concept stayed with me ever since:
Side-channel analysis.
It’s not about hacking the code. It’s about watching the behavior around it.
Let me explain.
The Invisible Clues: What Is Side-Channel Analysis?
In cyber security, side-channel analysis means you don’t attack a system head-on.
Instead, you observe the system’s behavior, how much power it uses, how quickly it processes data, or even how much heat it emits. These things seem irrelevant. But to the trained eye, they can reveal everything.
You’re not stealing the data directly.
You’re inferring it from what the system leaks without realizing it.
And when I first saw how markets move, especially during high-volume periods, news events, and algorithmic bursts, I recognized the same pattern:
Markets leak intention the same way machines leak data.
The big players don’t always show their cards. But they do leave footprints, if you know what to look for.
Hidden Order Flow: My Edge in the Market
That’s what inspired the foundation of what I now call Hidden Order Flow.
It’s not visible on price alone. It’s in the timing, the volume structure, the sequence of reactions, and the correlation between assets. It’s not traditional order flow, and it’s not just tape reading. It’s the side-channel version of market analysis.
And to detect it? I built a system.
A cloud-based engine that analyzes historical imbalances, price reactions, volatility shifts, and more. This evolved into what is now my core trading tool:
The E.G. Trigger Point.
It tells me, every single trading day, where statistically significant reactions are most likely to occur.
Just clean, calculated zones based on data.
Timing Over Stops
One of the biggest mindset shifts in my trading career came from this:
I stopped obsessing over where to place my stop.
I started obsessing over when to enter.
Most traders use stop losses as a cushion. I use them as a last resort.
The real goal is to time the entry so precisely, with such a clean edge, that the stop doesn’t even get tested. Not because I’m lucky, but because I’ve entered at the exact moment where the imbalance is likely to tip in my favor.
The stop is there for catastrophic failure, not normal behavior.
When I Refuse to Trade … Even If the Setup Looks Perfect
Over the years, I’ve learned that trading isn’t just about setups and systems.
It’s about self-awareness.
There are three psychological conditions where I’ve trained myself to simply walk away, no matter how good the chart looks:
After a losing streak — that’s when revenge trading shows up.
After a winning streak — that’s when overconfidence ruins your sizing.
After public bragging — this one’s personal. If I show off a trade, I subconsciously feel the need to “be right again”… and that’s deadly.
I remind myself often:
Trading is not therapy.
It’s not the place to find comfort, validation, or emotional relief.
That’s why my system is so structured. It’s robotic — not cold, but consistent. I’ve taken out as many human variables as possible. What remains is a simple question:
Is the probability high enough to justify this trade, today, right now?
Final Thought: The Edge Is in What You Don’t See
The best edges in trading are never the obvious ones.
They’re not found in chart patterns or indicators everyone has.
They’re in the behavioral leaks, the unintended signals, the invisible pressure points left behind by those who move size.
That’s what Hidden Order Flow is about. That’s the foundation of my methodology. And that’s the lens I bring to the market, every single day.
If you’re curious about how this philosophy translates into practical setups, pre-market planning, or trade management, I share more in upcoming articles and live sessions.
Thanks for reading,
Dr. Efrat Levy
