Analyzing the number of contracts at the bid vs the ask is extremely helpful in seeing the pressure being taken off or being applied. Notice on this chart, the 5th of january, you can see very quickly the buying pressure being released and selling coming in as we retrace to pivot levels. This shows you that there is not going to be a rejection at that pivot, and we will continue in the way of the trend.
Also, you can see that as it hits an extreme reading going in the direction of the mini trend, we are watching for a reversal due to exhaustion in that direction.
My graph is plotting the number of contracts at the bid vs ask, not the up ticks vs downticks.