Definition

Aggression

Market orders demanding immediate execution. The force that moves price.

Full Explanation

Aggression is the active side of every transaction. A market order does not name a price — it accepts whatever is available right now. A market buy executes at the ask, consuming sell-side liquidity. A market sell executes at the bid, consuming buy-side liquidity. Aggression is what causes price to move. Without aggression arriving to consume resting orders, price stays where it is. The relationship between the size of incoming aggression and the depth of available liquidity determines whether price relocates and how far.

In the Book 1 chapter

Chapter 2 · The Mechanics

Liquidity and Aggression

Every single trade has a buyer and a seller. That’s not an insight — it’s just math. For any transaction to happen, someone has to buy and someone has to sell. Which means that when you hear “buyers are in control right now” or “sellers are pushing price down,” you should pause for a second, because those phrases are telling you less than they sound like they are.

From the Blog 5 posts

Absorption: When Aggression Arrives and Nothing Happens

Absorption is the mechanical event where market orders meet enough resting liquidity and price fails to move—understanding it changes how you read every consolidation.

"Failed Breakout" — A Phrase That Fails the Trader

The phrase 'failed breakout' attributes intent to price. Let's replace it with a mechanical description that actually helps you read the chart.

Why the Author Is Not the Authority

Trading education often becomes a personality cult. TTM reframes the guru trap, moving the authority from the author to the market's mechanical reality.

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.

What Is Aggression, Exactly

The word "aggression" gets used constantly. The concept behind it almost never gets examined. That gap is costing you.