Definition

Absorption

What happens when aggression arrives at a price and the available liquidity is sufficient to fill it. Price does not move.

Full Explanation

Absorption is the outcome when liquidity wins. Aggression arrives, meets enough opposing limit orders to be fully filled, and price does not relocate. The shelf holds. On the chart, absorption appears as a stall, a wick without follow-through, or a consolidation. Absorption is what you are reading when price approaches a level and does not move through it. It is not the level holding — it is the orders at that level doing their job. When those orders are gone, absorption stops, and the level breaks.

In the Book 1 chapter

Chapter 3 · The Mechanics

Absorption and Relocation

Here’s a question that sounds simple but most traders have never actually answered: why does price move?

From the Blog 1 post

Why "Buyers vs. Sellers" Is the Wrong Frame

Every transaction has both a buyer and a seller. That's not insight — it's arithmetic. The question that actually matters is different, and until you're asking it, you're working with the wrong map.

Videos 1 video

Why does price actually move?

When aggressive market orders arrive at a price, exactly one of two things happens: the resting liquidity at that price absorbs them and price stays put, or the liquidity is insufficient and price relocates to the next available price.