No market data feed shows the hidden part of an iceberg order in ES futures; CME publishes only the displayed size. What a Level 3 (market-by-order, MBO) DOM does show is the iceberg itself: on CME’s MBO data, an iceberg held by CME keeps the same order ID each time its displayed size refills. Quant Data Futures flags icebergs in the Events column of its ES DOM.
Checked November 9, 2026. Examples: ES December 2026 futures (ESZ6), recorded on the Quant Data Futures DOM on the afternoon of September 30, 2026. Times are Eastern (ET).
Quant Data Futures DOM, ES (ESZ6), September 30, 2026, 3:41:27 PM ET: an iceberg flagged at 7,746.50 (boxed). Other rows carry flags of their own. The pull flags, the one on that row included, were already showing when our recording began at 3:27 PM.
Key takeaways
CME calls an iceberg a display quantity order. It’s allowed on ES, and each time the shown part fills, the next part joins the back of the line at the same price.
Level 3 shows what Level 2 can’t. Level 2 gives a total at each of the best 10 prices. Level 3 lists each visible order at every price, so a refilling iceberg stands out from new orders.
Quant Data Futures flags icebergs on the ES DOM. It’s a browser-based futures order flow platform with CME Level 3 data included in the plan and no exchange fees. On September 30, 2026, at 3:41 PM ET, it flagged one at 7,746.50.
A flag isn’t a forecast. It tells you where an iceberg sits, not where price goes next.
What is an iceberg order in ES futures?
An iceberg order is a limit order that shows the market only part of its size and keeps the rest out of view. Traders use one to work a large order without putting the whole size on the screen.
CME calls it a display quantity order. CME’s own example is a buy order for 100 contracts with a display quantity of 10. The market never sees more than 10 of them. When those 10 fill, the next 10 go in at the same price, at the back of the line behind the orders already resting there. That repeats until the whole order fills or is cancelled.
CME’s order qualifier documentation lists display quantity as available on every product except a short list of currency and interest rate contracts. ES isn’t on that list.
Can you see the hidden size of an iceberg order?
No. Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 data all leave out the hidden part of an iceberg, and who placed it. What changes from Level 1 to Level 3 is whether you can see the order itself refill.
What you can see | Level 1 (top of book) | Level 2 (market by price) | Level 3 (market by order) |
Displayed size | The total at the best bid and best offer | The total at each of the best 10 prices on each side (ES) | Each visible order’s size, at every price in the published book |
Hidden size | No | No | No |
Trades at the price | Yes, from the tape | Yes, from the tape | Yes, from the tape |
Size coming back after a fill | At the best bid and offer, as a total | As a change in the total, so a refill can look like new orders | Order by order: a refill keeps the iceberg’s order ID, while new orders get new IDs |
Who placed it | No | No | No |
For how the three levels differ beyond icebergs, see What is Market Depth? Level 2 vs Level 3 (MBO) Data.
What does an iceberg order look like on a DOM?
On a DOM (the price ladder), two signs tend to show up together:
Trades outrun the size shown. The contracts traded at one price keep adding up, well past anything the ladder showed resting there.
The same size keeps coming back. After each fill, a similar small size reappears at that price instead of the level emptying out.
Illustration based on CME’s own display quantity example.
A busy price can also refill because new traders keep joining it. That’s a reload, not an iceberg, and on Level 3 it arrives as new orders.
Real example: an iceberg in ES on September 30, 2026
At 3:41 PM ET on September 30, 2026, hundreds of ES contracts traded at 7,746.50 in about ten seconds. That’s more than our recording ever showed resting at that price. The Events column of the Quant Data Futures DOM flagged an iceberg at 7,746.50, the boxed row in the DOM picture at the top.
To watch for flags like this one yourself, the DOM is part of Quant Data Futures, which runs in your browser with CME Level 3 data for ES and NQ included in the plan.
How to see iceberg orders on the Quant Data Futures DOM
Log in at v3.quantdata.us and open the built-in Futures page, or click the + icon at the top right of a tool tab to open Add Tool, choose the Futures tab and pick Futures DOM. More on Add Tool: How to Add Tools to Built-in and Custom Pages on Quant Data.
Click the Columns icon in the DOM’s toolbar.
Turn on Bid Orders, Ask Orders and Events.
The Events column shows each flag on its price row, and Bid Orders and Ask Orders list large individual orders. To see the trades at a flagged price, add Futures Order Flow (the tape) or Futures Footprint beside the DOM. Our guide to order flow trading covers how to read both.
Iceberg, reload or pull: what’s the difference?
As price gets close to a level, DOM traders watch what happens to the size resting there:
Event | What it is | What you see on the DOM |
Iceberg | One order showing only part of its size | More contracts trade at the price than were ever shown, and the shown size keeps refilling |
Reload | New size posted right after a trade | Size comes back after a fill, from new orders |
Pull | Size cancelled, not traded | Size leaves the price with no trades there |
Here’s a pull from the same afternoon, eight minutes after the iceberg flag. One bid for 500 contracts sat at 7,738.00, below the market, for more than a minute. Between 3:49:16 and 3:49:25 PM it was cancelled. Not one contract of it traded. At 7,746.50 the size kept trading; here it just left.
A pulled order for contrast, ES (ESZ6), September 30, 2026: the 500-lot bid at 7,738.00 at 3:49:16 PM ET (top), gone at 3:49:25 PM (bottom). The volume there (dashed boxes) is the same in both frames. The other flags on these rows were there before the 500-lot was posted.
Does an iceberg order tell you where price will go?
No. Neither the order nor a flag on it tells you who placed it, why, or how much is left, and the rest of the order can be cancelled at any moment. Treat a flagged price as a level to watch: does size keep trading there, or does price break through?
Why use Quant Data Futures to spot iceberg orders?
Quant Data Futures is a browser-based futures order flow platform. Its ES DOM flags icebergs, reloads and pulls at each price, and lists large individual orders in the Bid Orders and Ask Orders columns. It runs on full-depth CME market-by-order (Level 3) data.
Level 3 data comes with the plan: no data feed to connect, no add-on to buy and no exchange fees.
Nothing to install: it runs in a browser tab on Mac or Windows.
One page: the DOM sits next to a footprint chart, Depth Map and tape.
FAQ
How can I see iceberg orders in ES futures?
You can’t see an iceberg’s hidden size, because CME doesn’t publish it. You can see the iceberg itself on a Level 3 (market-by-order) DOM: more contracts trade at one price than the DOM ever showed resting there, and the order comes back with the same CME order ID after each fill. Quant Data Futures flags icebergs in the Events column of its DOM.
Can you detect iceberg orders without Level 3 data?
Only roughly. Level 1 and Level 2 (market by price) show totals, not orders: Level 2 gives the total at each of the best 10 prices for ES, so you can notice trades at a price adding up past the total shown. But in a total, a refill and new orders joining look the same. Level 3 (market by order) lists each order with its own CME order ID, so an iceberg refilling under one ID can be told apart from new orders. That’s why a DOM built on Level 3 data can flag icebergs, while a standard Level 2 DOM can only hint at them.
Does CME allow iceberg orders on ES?
Yes. CME calls them display quantity orders, and ES is not among the few currency and interest rate contracts CME excludes (checked November 9, 2026).
Can I see iceberg orders in NQ futures too?
Yes. NQ (E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures) works the same way: CME allows display quantity orders on it, and the Quant Data Futures DOM flags icebergs on NQ as it does on ES.
Is an iceberg order the same as a hidden order?
Not quite. An iceberg shows part of its size at its price and refills it after each fill, while the rest stays out of view. People often say “hidden order” for icebergs, and also for synthetic icebergs: slice-by-slice orders some platforms and brokers send on a trader’s behalf. CME treats each slice of a synthetic iceberg as a new order with a new order ID.
Where can I see iceberg orders for ES in a browser?
Quant Data Futures is one option. It runs in a web browser on Mac or Windows, with nothing to install, and its DOM flags icebergs, reloads and pulls at each price on CME Level 3 data. That data is included in the plan with no exchange fees, and new members start with a 7-day free trial.
I have not signed up for Quant Data. How do I?
If you want to see icebergs, pulls and large individual orders on the ES and NQ DOM, click here to start your 7-day free trial. CME data is included with no exchange fees, and Quant Data Futures runs in your web browser. Click on Learn More if you would like to learn more about what we offer.
Would you like further assistance?
If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Quant Data team at support@quantdata.us or via our live chat located on the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. We are available on our live chat between 9:30 AM and 5:00 PM (eastern time), Monday through Friday.