Investing Market depth Level 3 Kite

20-level market depth on Kite

From WebNotes, a public knowledge base. Last updated 19 June 2026. Reading time ~6 min.

Key facts

What it shows	20 bid and 20 ask price levels of the NSE order book
Default view	5 bid and 5 ask levels, free on Kite
20-level cost	Paid add-on via NSE's Level 3 data product
Bid 1, 2, 3	The best three price levels of the buy side of the book
Segment	NSE cash on initial rollout; not CDS or MCX

The 20-level market depth feature on Kite renders 20 levels of bid and 20 levels of ask quotes on the NSE order book for any tradable instrument. This is a paid feature on top of the default 5-level depth (market depth view on Kite ), aimed at active intraday traders who want a fuller view of resting liquidity. Where the standard book shows the best five buy and five sell quotes, the 20-level book shows the best twenty of each, so a trader can see size that is queued well away from the touch.

What changes from the 5-level view

Aspect	Default 5-level	20-level
Levels visible	5 bids + 5 asks	20 bids + 20 asks
Cumulative quantity shown	Yes (5 levels deep)	Yes (20 levels deep)
Refresh frequency	Real-time	Real-time
Cost	Free	Subscription fee
Exchanges covered	NSE, BSE	NSE only (initial rollout)

What bid 1, 2, 3 mean in the order book

The market-depth window splits into two columns: the bid side and the ask side. The bid side lists the prices buyers are willing to pay, and the ask (or offer) side lists the prices sellers are willing to accept. Each row carries a price and the total quantity resting at that price.

“Bid 1, 2, 3” are the best three price levels on the buy side, ranked by price. Bid 1 is the highest price any buyer is currently willing to pay, so it is the price a market sell order would hit first. Bid 2 is the next-best buy price below it, bid 3 the one below that, and so on down the book. The ask side mirrors this: ask 1 is the lowest price any seller will accept, ask 2 and ask 3 the next-cheapest offers above it. The gap between bid 1 and ask 1 is the bid-ask spread.

A worked read of a single row makes the point. Suppose a stock shows bid 1 at Rs 250.00 for 1,200 shares, bid 2 at Rs 249.95 for 3,400 shares, and bid 3 at Rs 249.90 for 5,000 shares. A market sell order for 2,000 shares fills 1,200 at Rs 250.00, then 800 at Rs 249.95, so the deeper levels tell you the price your order will walk down to. On a 5-level view you see bid 1 through bid 5; on the 20-level view you see bid 1 through bid 20, which matters when your order is larger than the size resting at the top five prices.

The phrase “bid 1 2 3” turns up most often around IPOs because the same depth panel appears for a freshly listed scrip the moment it starts trading on the IPO listing day . It does not relate to the application or bidding stage of the public issue itself: during the book-building window an applicant places a single bid at or above the price band cut-off and cannot see a live order book, since the issue has not yet listed. Once the share lists and continuous trading begins, the order book opens, and bid 1, 2, 3 are simply the top three buy quotes for that newly listed stock, read exactly as they are for any other instrument. For the application side of a public issue, see the IPO process in India and how to apply for an IPO through Zerodha .

For the mechanics of reading the full panel, the cumulative-quantity column and the total bid and ask quantities, see how to read the Kite order book .

Why deeper depth matters

Better order placement

A trader placing a 10,000-share limit order needs to know where the order will queue. If 9,000 shares are already queued at the user’s chosen price across the 5 visible levels, but 50,000 more are queued at the level just below, the user can choose a slightly more aggressive price to jump the queue. The same view warns when a market order of a given size will sweep several levels and fill at a materially worse average price than bid 1 or ask 1, because the depth panel shows exactly how much size sits at each step. On a 5-level book that walk-down is invisible past the fifth row; on the 20-level book the trader can total the resting quantity across all twenty levels before sending the order.

Liquidity walls

Algorithmic traders often place large orders several levels deep to anchor the market. These walls are invisible on a 5-level view but visible on 20-level. Recognising a wall helps with target-setting and stop placement.

Order-book imbalance signals

Aggregate bid-to-ask quantity ratio across 20 levels is a noisier but richer signal than the 5-level ratio. Some intraday strategies use this as a directional input.

Spoofing detection

20-level depth reveals patterns of fast-cancel order placement that look like 5-level depth disappearing. Spoofing has been actioned by SEBI and exchanges; the deeper view helps users understand price action that otherwise looks anomalous.

Subscription and activation

The 20-level depth is offered via NSE’s “Level 3” data product. Zerodha relays it to Kite users who subscribe. The exact pricing, billing cadence, and activation path are described on the Zerodha Kite Support site. The fee structure has changed over time; check the current rate before subscribing.

Activation is per Kite account; deactivation is via the same Console page. Because the data is an NSE exchange product rather than a broker feature, the depth shown is the exchange’s own aggregated order book, identical regardless of which broker relays it. Two traders on different brokers, both subscribed to the same Level 3 feed, see the same twenty levels for the same instrument at the same instant, subject only to feed latency. The subscription buys access to deeper data, not a different or privileged book.

Limitations

NSE only. BSE 20-level may or may not be available; check current support.
No 20-level for currency derivatives. CDS segment uses the default 5-level.
No 20-level for MCX. The commodity segment runs separately.
Net of broker spread. The displayed prices are exchange prices; broker brokerage charges apply on top.
No tick-level history. The depth is a current snapshot, not a backtest tool.

Trader profile	Worth subscribing?
Buy-and-hold investor	No
Occasional intraday	Marginal
Daily intraday on large lots	Often yes
Algorithmic / API-based	Yes (via Kite Connect)
F&O option seller (sizing matters)	Often yes

Frequently asked questions

What is the 20-level market depth feature on Kite?

The 20-level market depth feature on Kite shows 20 bid and 20 ask price levels of the NSE order book for an instrument, expanding the default free 5-level view. It is a paid add-on, relayed from NSE’s Level 3 data product, aimed at intraday traders who want a fuller picture of resting liquidity beyond the top five levels.

What is bid 1, 2, 3 in an IPO?

Bid 1, 2 and 3 are the best three price levels on the buy side of the order book shown in the market-depth window. Bid 1 is the highest price buyers are willing to pay, with bid 2 and bid 3 the next-best prices below it, each listed with the quantity available. In the IPO context the same depth panel appears for a listed scrip, so bid 1, 2, 3 are simply the top three buy quotes once the share starts trading.

What is the difference between bid and ask in market depth?

The bid side lists the prices buyers are willing to pay, ranked from highest (bid 1) downward; the ask side lists the prices sellers are willing to accept, ranked from lowest (ask 1) upward. The gap between bid 1 and ask 1 is the spread. A 5-level view shows the top five of each side, and the 20-level view shows twenty.

Is the 20-level depth on Kite worth it?

It helps traders who place large lots, read order-book imbalance, or watch for liquidity walls and spoofing, because those signals sit below the top five levels. A buy-and-hold investor gains little, since entry and exit at NAV-like prices do not depend on deep book structure. The fee changes over time, so check the current rate before subscribing.

External references

References

NSE India, Level 3 data product specification, nseindia.com.
Zerodha Support, 20-level market depth on Kite, support.zerodha.com.
SEBI, Market microstructure and order book transparency, sebi.gov.in.

Reviewed and published by

WebNotes Editorial Team

The WebNotes Editorial Team covers Indian capital markets, payments infrastructure and retail investor procedures. Every article is fact-checked against primary sources, principally SEBI circulars and master directions, NPCI specifications and the official support documentation published by the intermediary in question. Drafts go through a second-pair-of-eyes review and a separate compliance read before publication, and revisions are tracked against the SEBI and NPCI rule changes referenced in the methodology section.

Last reviewed: 19 June 2026
Conflicts of interest: WebNotes is independent. No relationship with any broker, registrar or bank named in this article.