# SpotGamma - Futures Trading Toolkit (67 videos) > Source: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfl6dp83-o6T7rv6d8IntVIaeLnZ1Rmp7 > Captured 2026-05-26. Synthesis & findings in [[../infrastructure/Options Dealer Positioning/08 - SpotGamma Playlist Findings]]. ~35 videos overlap with the SpotGamma 101 playlist; all are included here for completeness. ## Key Market Dynamics & Trading Insights | Market Overview Walkthru #1 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/lgpeqQ4hHgs)* [music] To get started, let's begin with the homepage in your dashboard. The first thing you'll see here is the market overview designed to help you get started each trading day by displaying current market dynamics and trading insights across a customizable four grid layout. These four key sections include the live price of the major indices overlaid against our key levels in the top left quadrant, a table of support and resistance levels for the major indices to the right, squeeze candidates and stocks with high volatility within our volatility [music] risk premium VRP on the bottom left and upcoming events likely to affect market moves on the bottom right. Want to explore other features and resources? The top of the page includes a search function, live futures, and other account functionality. Lastly, the menu bar on the far left displays clickable links that take you directly into any spot gamma product enabled for your subscription access level. Next, we're going to take a closer look into each of these functions so [music] you can optimize your homepage to best meet your trading needs. Trader tip. On the live prices chart, the call wall is the strongest level where sellers are most likely to enter the market, while the put wall is the level where the most buyers are likely to enter the market. These are updated daily. ## Data Into Direction | Market Overview Walkthru #2 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/Eu9RoHNQQNw)* To make sure you harness the power of the market overview grid, let's walk through the page in more detail. Our team has structured this initial layout based on our expertise and community feedback, but you can customize it according to your preference. Starting with the upper left quadrant, this view is set to show you what is happening right now in the markets, defaulted to the S&P 500. There are two things to note about this chart. The first is that you can change the index to reflect either the S&P, NASDAQ, or Russell depending on your preference. The second is that you can toggle between three additional views. The gamma model, combo strikes, and absolute gamma charts, all which feature an eyebox that contains a short training video. Each of these videos gives you a quick walkthrough of how to read each chart and apply it to your trading. Now, moving on to the upper right, you'll see four ways to view the daily key levels for these indices, so you can choose your favorite lens. The first, named index levels, cleanly lists prices where you can see the most impactful levels for the day. The second tab, called spot gamma levels, may be especially impactful for newer traders, as each category has a tool tip accessible by scrolling over the terms on the left that explains exactly what the level means and why it matters. Next, index metrics provide more insights into the major indices according to broader volumes. And the last tab narrows in on key support and resistance levels in a table format. Turning to our scanner quadrant on the bottom left. This quadrant highlights two of our scanners with the goal of enabling active traders to see some new ideas each morning. The first of the two scanners identify stocks that are most likely to squeeze higher, meaning names that could move sharply upward due to short covering or positioning imbalances within the squeeze. candidates table. And then for stocks with expensive options prices relative to their own history, you can click over to the VRP scanner. Lastly, the bottom right quadrant helps you to track upcoming key economic data that can shape your trading strategy. You can click on the earnings tab to see upcoming company earnings. Switch over to our proprietary earnings chart that shows you expected move for each name. And check out the atot gamma tab to make sure you don't miss upcoming webinars. They'll keep you one step ahead of the crowd with live market analysis, exclusive subscriber Q&A sessions, and deep dives into the topics and trends that matter most for your trading. Trader tip: If you're looking for new trade ideas, this squeeze scanner will reveal names which are most likely to move higher in the next one to two weeks. ## Your Top Names, Tools, & Support | Market Overview Walkthru #3 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/DsUcqy5_zLs)* The top of the market overview page has several important functions. Now that you've gotten a sense of what is in the main section of the page, you can click on the pencil icon to customize any quadrant of the grid or prioritize any individual table. To move tabs up or down within each grid, click the up or down icons. to completely rearrange the tabs, delete tabs within each section of the grid, or add items listed at the bottom to reflect how you want to start each trading day. Next, you have access to the search field. If you pick an individual name, this will take you directly into our dashboard according to your subscription level. Alpha subscribers, for example, will go right into hero, which helps traders see how real times options flows are driving US indices or individual stocks. Moving to the right, you can see there are live futures prices displayed throughout the day and post market. The last things we'd like to note is that the FAQ icon will take you to our support center. The notifications icon will take you to the spot camo updates once notes have been published, and the bell icon will show you stock alerts for names which have interesting or unique activity. ## Leveraging Your Toolkit | Market Overview Walkthru #4 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/PrSNNmXy5MI)* [music] Turning to the left sidebar menu, you'll see many clickable links which will take you to additional tools within the dashboard. Starting here with the alpha subscribers view. Right at the top, you'll see market overview. This is your starting point, a central hub that gives you a real-time snapshot of what's happening in the markets and quick access to key tools. Next, we move into real time signals. This is where the power of Spot's live indicators really comes to life. Here you'll find Hero, which shows you the hedging impact of options [music] flows as it's happening, empowering you to see which way buyers and sellers are driving prices. Next, volatility dashboard gives you four different ways to instantly spot which strikes are cheap or expensive relative to their historical volatility, which is incredibly useful when you structure your trades. Turning to trace, which is an industry-leading heat map for the S&P 500. This spot gamma tool shows you actual positioning as it builds [music] and recedes throughout the day. And tape unveils each specific trade as it applies positive or negative pressure to your trading targets. Moving down to the equity console, let's take a look at how you can really dig into individual tickers with more [music] precision. Equity hub offers two powerful lenses. The total OI model captures broader positioning across all strikes and expirations, great for getting a structural read on a name. The synthetic OI lens is more surgical, giving you short-term positioning data confirmed by the exchanges, ideal for intraday decisions. Then there's scanners. This includes tools like compass, [music] which helps you assess whether a stock is positioned bullish or bearish and whether its options are priced to move. Then to see which names are [music] most primed to springloadad upward, our squeeze scanner flags names where pressure is building under the surface. Lastly, under scanners, the VRP scanner helps you spot where options [music] may be overpriced, signaling potential mean reversion setups. Next up is market central. This section starts with founders notes, one of the most highly valued features among subscribers. Here you'll get daily pre and postmarket breakdowns from Brent and the spot gamma team, giving you a strong directional framework to guide your day. Following founders notes, the report section is both the flow patrol report, which unveils large market activity at key price levels, and the Sunday note, which recaps the biggest takeaways from the week. And once you've landed on the name you want to trade, you can use the Spotama proprietary options calculator to model your return profile from today through to its expiration date. The indices page is where you'll find spot gamma's read on broader market flows with charts and tables that help you analyze the major indices including S&P, QQQ, IWM, and more. And if you prefer to chart our levels inside your own tools like Trading View, Thinker Swim, or many others, the integrations tab makes it easy to overlay spot gamma levels onto the platforms you already use. Finally, at the bottom of the menu, you'll find resources, social, and account. Resources is where you can dive into educational content and past webinars to sharpen your strategy. Social gives you a way to connect with the broader spot community. An account is where you can update your profile, manage your subscription, and get support. ## 6 Signals That Move The Markets | Key Levels #1 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/kfq8ppeCCbU)* Welcome. In this quick walkthrough, we're going to break down six core terms that form the foundation of how Spot Gamma works. Whether you're new to Options Flow or just getting started with our platform, these definitions will help you cut through the noise and make faster sense of the metrics that matter. Let's get right into it so you can better understand what's really moving the market and trade with more clarity and intent. The first three terms, market maker, delta, and gamma, are core concepts in the trading industry. Other terms like call wall, put wall, and volatility trigger were coined years ago by spot gamma and have since been adopted by the industry. So, let's walk through what each of these terms means along with some quick examples to make them stick. And thanks again for taking the time to invest in your learning. Once you've got these down, you'll be in a better position to take full advantage of Spot's analysis and anticipate market moves. ## Market Makers | Key Levels #2 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/5fY6GfPHelQ)* Here [music] at Spot Gamma, we want to make sure you understand what we do and why. One of the largest drivers of your daily trading returns has been hidden from you until now. You see, whenever you buy an option, someone sells it to you. And the entity on the other side of that trade is almost always what's called a market maker. A market maker doesn't bet against you. They just try to make a small spread on every [music] trade and they stand ready to buy or sell options along with the market. Since their goal is to make a little money on every trade and not take directional risk, they do what's called hedging off their risk by most often trading stocks against the option they sold to you. So, let's take Amazon as a quick example. If you buy 10 Amazon calls and the market maker sells them to you through your brokerage platform, the market maker will next buy a specific number of shares of stock to reduce or eliminate their directional risk. The power of the spot gamma platform is that our proprietary model reveals how market maker flows create predictable price action and understanding their positioning can give you a significant trading edge. Next, we'll break down delta, which defines how trading is required by these market makers to reduce their risk. Spot Gamma tracks delta across all options trades on every exchange to uncover the price levels where hedging flows are most likely to attract buyers or sellers. That means you get a clear view of where the market may turn before it happens. ## Delta | Key Levels #3 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/ZlgHBCocUuQ)* Now that we've unpacked what a market maker does and how their actions can reveal hidden pressure points in the market, it's time to talk about delta. Delta tells you how many shares a market maker needs to buy or sell to stay neutral after trading an option. Once you understand how that works as a trader, you can better anticipate where momentum might build and position yourself to take advantage of it. So, how many shares exactly? Well, the formula market makers rely on is not a secret. Delta is based on a well doumented and public math calculation and often displayed within your trading platform alongside any options you may wish to trade. We'll break down how delta is calculated and what it means a bit later, but here's the TLDDR. Delta helps define the neutral ratio, showing how many shares a market maker needs to buy to hedge every option they sell. It's a key piece of what drives price action. ## Gamma | Key Levels #4 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/tetIUMchpiI)* [music] Now that you've got a handle on Delta, it's time to talk about our namesake. Spot Gamma was founded by Brent Cachuba in 2020 to help traders hack Wall Street's playbook by revealing how market maker hedging flows influence stock prices. While delta tells you how much stock needs to be bought or sold at a single moment, it doesn't capture how that exposure changes as price and time shift. That's where gamma comes in. Gamma measures how hedging pressure evolves dynamically. And that shift [music] can move markets fast, like we saw during the GameStop squeeze. Spot Gamma applies over 20 years of proprietary algorithms to track that pressure at every spot price, giving you institution level insight into where buying or selling is likely to hit. So, where does the name spot gamma come from? Here's a quick fun fact. The price of any financial instrument is known as the spot price, the measure of how hedging pressure shifts. And you get spot gamma, a platform built to track buying and selling pressure at every spot price. That's what powers unique levels of the call wall, put wall, and volatility trigger, which we'll cover next. ## Call Wall | Key Levels #5 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/DlnKc9ET46o)* The call wall is one of the most important levels from spot gamma. It is the strongest level of resistance where sellers will enter the market, often providing a near-term level where traders take profits, short stocks, or sell options above this price. Spot Gamma identifies the daily call wall by running math against millions of data points every morning before 5:00 a.m. and then displaying the call wall for every US index and individual stock directly within our founders notes and equity [music] hub indicator. Going one level deeper, the call wall holds as resistance for the S&P in 83% of trading sessions based on spot gamma statistics with 88% of the time the S&P closing below the call wall. Additionally, spot gamma data shows that when the call wall is breached, forward returns typically weaken, averaging negative send basis points one day later and just five basis points over 5 days. This reinforces the call wall as a high probability zone where selling pressure builds and upside momentum often stalls. Let's take a look at a recent example where the call wall held firm and capta stocks rally. Trader tip. On July 2nd, Hood spiked on headlines and hit the $100 call wall for the first time. That level rejected multiple times throughout the day as traders took profits. This is exactly the kind of setup spot gamma helps you prepare for. With daily pre-market call levels for all US stocks and indices, you can spot key resistance zones before the market opens and trade [music] with more confidence, timing, and precision. ## Put Wall | Key Levels #6 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/zfbWVNPmBwI)* Next up is the put wall. The put wall is the strongest level of support where buyers will enter the market, often providing a near-term level where traders may want to take profits from short trades, enter stocks, or sell options below this price. Spot identifies the daily put wall by running math against millions of data points every morning before 5:00 a.m. and then displaying the put wall for the largest US indices in more than 3,500 individual stocks directly within our founders notes and equity hub indicator. Going one level deeper, the put wall holds as support for the S&P in 89% of trading sessions based on spot gamma statistics with 93% of the time the S&P closing above the put wall. Additionally, following a put wall breach, the S&P has a 14 basis points average for one day forward return and seven basis points for five-day forward returns. So, it's a key area where buyers will support the S&P 500. Let's take a look at how a real put wall setup played out. Trader tip. On July 2nd, Netflix stock appeared to find support after 2 days of selling. The stock fell from 1340 to 1265 when it reached the put wall. This is exactly the kind of setup spot gamma helps you prepare for. With daily pre-market putall levels for all US stocks and indices, you can spot key support zones before the market opens and trade with more confidence, timing, and precision. ## Vol Trigger | Key Levels #7 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/CfmmrY9C4BQ)* [music] The call wall and put wall show you where key support and resistance will likely hold across the major indices and top stocks. Now we will unpack the most important level to help you gauge when conditions [music] are likely to change. The vault trigger above it we're typically in a positive gamma environment. Calmer trading, tighter ranges, and more positive sessions. Drop below it and the tone shifts. negative gamma sets in, volatility increases, and downside risk picks up. Knowing where that level is helps you adjust position sizing, avoid getting caught offside and staying in sync with [music] changing market regimes. One key statistic is that the amount of daily volatility below the vault trigger is nearly 40% higher than when above the vault trigger. Knowing where price sits relative to the vault trigger helps you gauge how aggressive you want to be. It lets you adjust your position size, tighten your stops, or lean in when positions are favorable, whether the market's calm or getting volatile. Let's look at a recent and extreme example. On April 3rd, 2025, the S&P breached the 5700 volt trigger level, setting off a sharp price drop of more than 12% over the next two sessions. ## Learning & Support, Any Time You Need It | Key Levels #8 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/CWf3WnwCDqk)* [music] To wrap up this first section, you've now seen how Spotgama's insights can give you a real trading edge, and you've got three key industry terms and three spot gamma levels under your belt to help anchor that foundation. As you continue ramping up, know that we're here to support you every step of the way. Beyond this course, there are plenty of ways to keep building [music] your knowledge passively. quick hit videos inside the platform, strategy guides and walkthroughs in the dashboard, our searchable support center with thousands of Q&As's and real [music] world case studies available on our site. You can also join our live webinars held multiple times per week and get plugged into our private Discord where hundreds of traders are actively sharing ideas and answering questions around the clock. Thanks again for leaning in and taking this first step. Next, we will show you how to apply spot gamma's indicators to elevate your strategy and trade with more confidence. ## Overview, Your Daily Edge | Founder's Notes Walkthru #1 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/hSfsbNySInY)* [Music] The spot gamma founders note delivered every morning and afternoon to our subscribers is one of the highest rated spot gamma products. Since early 2020, our founder Brent Kachuba has personally authored the note pre-market every morning, rain or shine to deliver unique expert analysis found nowhere else in the financial space. Then postmarket, our team of analysts authors an end of day recap. The next few videos will get into how you can tactically get the most out of the founders note. ## AM/PM Notes, Morning Setups, Evening Recaps | Founder's Notes Walkthru #2 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/xxcDx56z6ho)* [Music] Spot Gamma founders notes are published on a daily basis, Monday through Friday, every day the market is open. This enables you to identify pre-market setups and create your game plan for the day, empowered by our expert analysis and with unique support and resistance levels on the major indices. The founders note can be accessed through the dashboard on the left sidebar menu. To take a look back at older founders notes, whether to compare our outlook to the market moves or for a broader context, you can click on the recent notes listed on the right hand side of your viewing pane or choose the date you want to see by using the sorting function. You can also gain access to more insights by reviewing the video accessible by clicking the I box. ## Macro Theme - Spot Big Moves Early | Founder's Notes Walkthru #3 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/X2kAGT8vmJA)* [Music] Within the founders note, there are several sections and we will start with the macro theme. The macro theme helps you see the key dates ahead, including the biggest upcoming economic events and is usually updated a few times per month. This is followed by a section of commentary from Brent and our team of analysts that highlights the areas of resistance, support, and volatility for the coming several weeks or into one of these major events. The last section of the macro theme lists out the major levels that align with where buyers and sellers may enter the market in the near-term and volatility zones. Key insights straight to your inbox every trading day. Trader tip. Swing traders can use this highle commentary to adjust their positions for the next one to two weeks based on Brent's commentary and the spot camo levels. ## Winning Trade Example | Founder's Notes Walkthru #4 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/bUkxKqD0DNg)* [Music] The macro theme is often carried into Brent's commentary in the daily founders note analysis. For example, right before the monthly opex in May. On May 14th, Brent unveiled, "We've been highlighting the 5900 to 6,000 area as the zone wherein the rally would stall." We admittedly thought that would be more of a late May test, not so much an early May test, but here we are. The lack of negative gamma above 5900 infers market makers have less to buy into a rally. This potential topping zone comes as the market must now search for a catalyst. After we watch 5900 on the S&P provide resistance on May 13th as we expected and wrote about ahead of time in the macro theme. The market continued to trade sideways through the rest of May and closed near 5900 2 weeks later. This analysis proved hugely valuable for any one to two week swing trader who is able to fade moves higher and feel more confident knowing the options market was facing a near-term ceiling. ## Intent, Application, & Style | Founder's Notes Walkthru #5 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/-Yqn9U4_tpA)* [Music] Next, we'll walk through the core commentary inside the founders note. Brent Kachuba writes this daily for the spot gamma community, drawing from experience on the algorithmic desks at Bank of America and Credit Swiss, his time at Wolverine, one of the top three US market makers, and as an investor at a family office. Brent uses all of those lenses to break down the positioning, key levels, and flow dynamics on the indices that matter most, then goes deeper into themes like shortdated options, volatility setups, or unusual activity in specific stocks. The commentary includes charts and models straight from the Spocka dashboard, so you can quickly connect the analysis to your trading game plan for the day. Trader tip for active traders. Brent will often highlight daily catalysts and what key levels he's watching for an intraday reversion or breakout. ## Real Calls, Real Wins | Founder's Notes Walkthru #6 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/lF6vyG1TE2E)* [Music] We provided invaluable analysis on April 4th, warning people that the floor is well below current pricing. And that day, the market dropped to about 5,000. When we checked the trace map this AM, we see lots of negative gamma across the whole strike range with the only significant support level at 5,000. That is not a typo. In the following trading session, the S&P near collapsed and only found support at the 5,000 support level. Active spot gamma traders were empowered to let their shorts run down to that level and avoid playing a reversal too early. ## The Founder's Note Tables | Founder's Notes Walkthru #7 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/6r86APfij3o)* [Music] Following the written commentary, the spot gamma's founders note includes many key metrics every morning that can help you position your exposure. These are organized across multiple spot gamma proprietary levels, including some really actionable metrics like our one-day expected mood. Each of these terms comes with a tool tip. So if you scroll over any metric in our table, it'll provide a clear description of what the metric unveils and how to apply it to your trading. And across our tables in every founders note, you can see key levels across the largest six indices with our gamma model at the bottom. For more information and examples around each of our metrics and insights, more is available within our support center. Trader tip, consider the secondary combo strikes to see where support or resistance lie in between call wall or put walls. ## Track Record | Founder's Notes Walkthru #8 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/5l2UiGZ1ipg)* Traders come to Spot Gamma to sharpen their edge, [music] and our insights unveil time and time again how options flows are driving US markets. We're often cited in major publications like The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Reuters, and many more. But, what matters more is how actionable our analysis is for you. That's why we hold ourselves accountable with a public report card. Each quarter we publish our biggest market calls so you can see exactly how our insights help traders position early and capture opportunity. Trader tip, check out the examples from the Q2 25 report [music] card to see how our team highlights opportunities consistently every month found nowhere else in the financial space. ## Reports | Founder's Notes Walkthru #9 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/6-_2V4HL944)* In addition to Spotgama's founders note, one of the most important value drivers at Spotgama, we deliver additional high-value reports to our community under the [music] reports tab. The first is Flow Patrol. Flow Patrol delivered daily pre-market scans the options market to uncover where the action is, spotlighting specific stocks and ETFs with meaningful flow that may drive price movement. The second is our Sunday note. The Sunday note delivered weekly helps you digest the previous week's activity and provides a broad forward-looking [music] perspective framing the upcoming week. And to see reports from previous days, click view all documents and select your desired date. Once finished reading the report, you can also download the PDF for your records. ## Read The Charts Driving Market Moves | Indices Walkthru #1 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/-n7qta9eC6o)* [Music] In addition to our founders note with daily commentary and key levels that get you prepared for the trading day, our indices page provides 17 charts and graphs which lay out the current dynamics across three of the most actively traded US indices, the S&P, NASDAQ, and Russell 2000. To access our comprehensive training video, please click on the box named using indices at the top of the page, which will help you see how each of the individual products works. ## Use Greeks, Volatility, & OI to Sharpen Trades | Indices Walkthru #2 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/WXdsg8FHAmk)* [Music] Now that you've got the core concepts down, let's look at where most traders go next, the chart-based tools. This next section is especially useful if you trade index products or futures, and it's designed to help you find the spot gamma indicators that best fit your approach. Starting with the first layout under Greeks, you can choose which index you want to see for seven specific graphs and review how things have changed over the last few days. Each graph has an eyebox with a specific video. Next, you can switch over to our volatility charts, which has five specific graphs with video support. Lastly, we have two open interest graphs that act as sentiment indicators and help you decide where to position your trades and how much confidence you have to size your exposure. Trader tip. Check out the open interest charts and look for large positions on the S&P open interest and volume chart. This might indicate where the market may see significant support or resistance. [Music] ## Spot Flow Shifts Before the Market Reacts | Indices Walkthru #3 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/pJK9v7XvX-g)* [Music] Along with the 14 graphs that help you assess the Greeks volatility and open interest, there are three specific charts that help provide historical context around current market dynamics. The S&P historical chart shows you how the S&P has moved relative to the three key metrics we unpacked in the key term section around call wall, put wall, and volatility trigger. Next, the S&P concentration table shows you key metrics across the current market complex by expiration date. Lastly, the S&P strike table unveils where options may have the most meaningful impact on upcoming stock movements. Again, each of these charts and tables has an eyebox with more context on what the tables show and how to apply them. Trader tip. On the S&P historical chart, look to see when the S&P is below the volatility trigger for higher volatility or above it for calmer market moves. [Music] ## Integrations | Indices Walkthru #4 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/1O2Q_u3W6NQ)* Spot built our dashboard to be your standalone command center to show you how options flows drive your trading each day. [music] And while we've spent millions of dollars building out our indicators, we recognize many active traders who want to also see some of our key daily index levels within other visualization platforms. To see the details for each of our currently supported partners, please click on their logo at the top of the page. Again, these are index levels only, and in the future, we plan to partner more [music] closely with select leading platforms as we add in more capabilities across our dashboard. ## Layout | Equity Hub Walkthru #1 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/QFLhNQC-gRE)* EquityHub is your command center for spot gamma daily insights across more than 3500 US stocks [music] and indices. Within EquityHub, you'll find two core models. The first is the total open interest model which pulls in data on every US options trade and pinpoints [music] where the total options market complex is most likely to create support or resistance. The total open interest model empowers you to target the price levels or buying or selling [music] pressure could develop. The second is the synthetic open interest lens which tracks dealer [music] positioning and hedging flows. So you can anticipate potential short-term volatility and directional [music] changes with greater precision. For both models, there are multiple ways to leverage EquityHub here by applying the central viewing page, lower data tables, and spot scanners to your watch list. In the next few sections, we'll share trading examples utilizing EquityHub's total interest model in detail ways to personalize your view and apply key features. ## Overview | Equity Hub Walkthru #2 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/o-CyAyY2j4w)* [music] We will now do a deep dive into the total OI model. The total OI model assumes that all options are sold by market makers and is especially useful for trading [music] in the 1 week to 1 month time frame. Many traders use it to pair our key levels and volatility metrics with their own strategies [music] or our real-time products. By showing where buying and selling pressure is most likely to enter the major US indices and individual US stocks, the total OI model stays ahead of the market. Whether using our unique charts or bespoke indicators, you can search individually for new trade ideas or dive deeper into your chosen watch list. ## Main Chart | Equity Hub Walkthru #3 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/zzS3auS9Y5A)* [music] Starting with the main chart, you can choose from several [music] views. The composite view uses red and green shading to show how gamma is evolving across any [music] stock and whether puts or calls are driving price action in any name. The put and call [music] impact chart, a member's choice favorite among intermediate to expert traders, maps gamma across all nearby strikes to reveal critical support and resistance levels. Insights you can use to structure more targeted spreads or trading approaches. Next, the live price and SG levels view provides a concise look into how any index or [music] stock's current price is behaving relative to key nearby market positions. Then you can take a look at the history tab to see how market positions have changed over the past 2 weeks. Finally, the risk reversal chart shows you whether there are more puts or calls trading for each stock, giving traders an indication of potential bullish or bearish positioning. Trader tip: The composite view. Green zones [music] show where calls tend to be less volatile, while red zones show where puts dominate [music] and volatility runs higher. Always check where the call wall and put wall sit for your stock [music] of interest. ## Table | Equity Hub Walkthru #4 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/ECszNQh0YNg)* [music] Within the Lower EquityHub data table, you can search for more than 3,500 stocks by typing the ticker into the search bar or clicking on your personalized watch list. Once you've selected your names of [music] interest, they appear alphabetically for quick scanning. At this stage, we just want to make sure you feel comfortable searching within the five [music] key categories of metrics to inform your trading approach. The first section is ticker information, including current and recent [music] price action, one-year highs and lows, and any known upcoming earnings dates, helpful context [music] before you size a trade. Next, we have the spot gamma key levels, which lists known strikes with expected significant hedging activity, so you can see potential support and resistance influence before you [music] trade. The third section reveals the bullish or bearish nature of each name by identifying the relationship between put and call trading. The fourth section [music] is a series of volatility insights that can help you improve the timing and structure of your trade setup. The last section is a darkpool metric which gives [music] context on which names are seeing the most off-market trading. Before moving on, remember you have full customization over the columns you'd like to display or hide according to your personal [music] preference. ## Sample Workflow - Spot Trade Setups in 4 Steps | Equity Hub Walkthru #5 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/DBH8FA9wCIY)* [music] If you're looking for a daily process to make the most out of EquityHub's total OI model, we suggest a four-step approach. Step one is to check the composite view to see if options are in fact driving your stock of interest. The darker the red or green shading, the larger the options [music] influence. When calls are in control, there tends to be more price stability versus puts as put dominant names are often associated with higher volatility. Also, be sure to check the outer blue line as darker coloring signifies recent options trading activity, again [music] revealing when options are driving your names. In step two, we turn to the members choice favorite, the put and call impact [music] chart. Look for where the call or put gamma curves flatten out as these areas indicate a reduction in expected market maker activity and therefore [music] lower volatility. Step three is to look at the 10day history. Movement upward in the call wall, put wall, hedge wall, or key other strikes can project bullishness while [music] downward movement in these levels may reflect bearishness. Lastly, step four is to check [music] the live price and SG levels tab to see how far the current price is from spot gamma's proprietary key [music] levels such as the call wall or put call. This helps identify when there's more room to run to the key levels of support or resistance. ## Trading Approach | Equity Hub Walkthru #6 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/C72yH-NUNGc)* [Music] Now that we've covered some initial features you can utilize within EquityHub, let's walk through one early stage trading strategy based on the EquityHub total OI model. This approach focuses on price level changes in the call wall or put wall. Here, if the walls are moving higher over subsequent days, this represents a bullish or upside opportunity in the markets. while the walls moving lower indicate a bearish or downside opportunity in the markets. If the positioning is bullish, you might choose to buy calls or sell a put spread. If it's bearish, you may choose to buy puts, short stock, or sell a call spread. And remember, names with darker shading in the EquityHub composite view reflect more options activity and potentially larger market influence. ## Personalization | Equity Hub Walkthru #7 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/FbfXqrVTApU)* Within this tutorial, we covered the basics of applying EquityHub insights to your trading. Now, let's make sure your dashboard view is best customized for the way you trade. We've touched on how to use your own watch lists and scanners, and now we want to make sure you know how to filter the columns in the bottom data table to focus on what matters most to you. By clicking on filters, you can choose which of the many columns you want to further investigate. [music] Once you choose a field, you can then select a range or specific value to create your own scanner for trade setups that match your [music] style. Alternatively, you can click on the columns feature to hide what you don't need. By slimming down your table to your preferred [music] columns and filtering for values that matter the most to you, you can quickly find your preferred trade ideas. And again, if you don't want to see a larger list of names, click on the eye icon to see just your [music] watch list. Lastly, if you do analysis outside of spot gamas, you can export today's activity as a CSV or Excel file of today's activity. ## Intermediate Trade Structures | Equity Hub Walkthru #8 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/hmx7-Hw0FGw)* [music] For an intermediate trading approach, we strongly suggest leaning on the levels with the greatest gamma magnitudes, [music] the call wall, input wall. When a stock is within 1% of the call wall, selling covered calls above the call wall expire [music] worthless the majority of the time. Conversely, for names where your stock of interest [music] is within 1% of the put wall, statistically speaking, selling covered puts below the put wall will expire worthless the majority of the time. Additionally, we suggest that playing reversals near our strongest levels of resistance or support can be [music] a profitable strategy over time. This means going long when a stock is within 1% of the put wall or shorting a stock within [music] 1% of the call wall as these levels tend to have strong relevance in the near term. In any of these cases, be sure to trade with fixed risk [music] and limit position sizing so that you can lean on a high hit rate of small wins to generate positive returns over time. ## Advanced Trade Structures | Equity Hub Walkthru #9 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/H-fgSDBMvKM)* [music] Now that we've reviewed some early stage and intermediate trading approaches, let's take a look at a more complex [music] strategy. This opportunity may not avail itself as often as stocks having a bullish or bearish tone or being within 1% [music] of our call and put wall, but it can be very effective. In this scenario, we look for [music] names which are Above its hedge wall, B within 2% of the absolute [music] gamma level, and C between the call wall and put wall. In this case, we would suggest traders consider putting on an iron [music] condor. One way to do this is by selling a strangle with both the call and put sold struck 1% [music] outside of the current price. Then layer on a wider strangle where profit is captured. if the stock closes within [music] 3% of the price when you open the position. Alternatively, think of this as selling an outofthe-oney put spread and an [music] out-of-the-oney call spread. This position has capped risk and can be sought out by filtering for stocks with high IV, whether it's from recent or expected move. ## Synthetic OI - Track Hedging Flows in Based on Dealer Positioning | Equity Hub Walkthru #11 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/LZ-WjYlLS1o)* Welcome to the second model within EquityHub, the synthetic OI equity hub model. The synthetic OI model is built to help you better understand short-term options positioning and hedging flows so you can react faster, manage risk more precisely, and trade short-term setups with greater confidence. The synthetic OI equity hub model has the same general layout as the total OI model, but replaces the central chart with a more advanced view enhanced by millions of more data points. This lens delivers more precise tracking of short-term options hedging flows by eliminating assumptions and categorizing transactions according to participants and whether they are opening or closing trades. These insights can be especially impactful with intraday or overnight trades. Understanding synthetic OI is crucial for intraday and overnight trading because it helps unveil how hedging flows can amplify or dampen short-term price movements. Negative gamma often leads to intraday momentum and heightened volatility while positive gamma tends to cause mean reverting or pinned price action. Traders who monitor gamma profiles can improve trading entries, anticipate volatility, and align strategies with underlying market courses. Trader tip. As a stock approaches a high positive gamma area, expect increased resistance and a potential reversal. Conversely, negative gamma zones can accelerate momentum as dealers add pressure through their hedging trades. ## Synthetic OI - Prepare for Intraday Volatility | Equity Hub Walkthru #12 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/r92cs_WHQdk)* To best apply the synthetic OI lens, we recommend starting with the members fan favorite, the put and call impact chart. Unlike the total OI lens, which shows [music] you the walls, the synthetic OI lens reveals which strikes or price zones are significantly affected by options and how the cumulative options impact shifts as price moves. There are three filters you can use within the chart. Gamma, delta, and [music] open interest. First, the gamma lens shows you which strikes or zones will have higher realized volatility versus more stable [music] price movement. Here you can filter the customizable curves to show you [music] the total gamma, the next expiration gamma, or several other time frames. Next, you can use the delta lens [music] to see where buying pressure and selling pressure exist across strikes. Positive delta bars reflect buying pressure while negative delta bars indicate selling pressure. The third lens, open [music] interest, helps you understand sentiment and hedging impact of all options trades. [music] You can toggle the view of the OI bars to see total OI, daily open interest change or net positioning. Additionally, you can check out the live GEX bars under the live price and SG levels view or the total impact of options with a color gradient within the [music] composite view. ## Trade Example - May 28, 2025 | Equity Hub Walkthru #13 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/Votqc_cw6Cg)* [music] >> The Nvidia chart shows dealers [music] are long significant positive gamma around the 135 strike, creating a pinning effect [music] that suppresses volatility and encourages mean reverting price [music] action. After Friday's expiration on May 30th, this gamma exposure will drop by 65% removing the stabilizing [music] hedging flows and likely leading to increased realized volatility. Before May 30th, Nvidia stock remains sticky around [music] the 135 area positioning for the next move after the positive gamma expires. Traders should consider premium selling strategies before expiration while the gamma pin is active. Then pivot to long volatility strategies post expiration when the hedging support disappears. ## Overview | TRACE Walkthru #1 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/LkbLv5Aai6s)* Welcome to Trace. Trace is a powerful heat map that shows you how the options market exerts pressure on the SPX index throughout the trading day by unveiling zones of buying and selling pressure, areas of heightened volatility, and points of price consolidation. Powered by both internal algorithms and exchange [music] data, Trace provides you with multiple ways to see how options flows are driving the S&P 500. Let's get into the best ways to use Trace to spot support, resistance, and volatility [music] so you can strengthen your entries and exits. ## GEX Lens | TRACE Walkthru #2 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/_9gPKqMbyBg)* Starting with the left-hand side of the main viewing pane, the strike plot reveals current options positioning for the selected market participant type. Scrolling over this data provides contextual tooltip information and recent historical values. When the bar chart is set to either OI or net OI, its values display the number of outstanding contracts [music] at each strike. When chart is toggled to apply the Greeks lens, it unveils [music] gamma by strike for each reference price. The strike plot updates in 1-minute intervals during the trading day with updates every 10 minutes pre-market. [music] Also, while this chart is set to reflect all options and their impact, there is a zero DTE Greeks toggle that enables you to narrow in on the impact that next expiration options are having on the S&P 500. Some traders keep a close eye on this left pane throughout the day. It's their go-to for tracking where gamma's building. You can even pop it out full screen using the square icon in the top left. And if you want a tighter view [music] on the key strikes, just use the strike plot zoom to dial it in. Trader tip, look for where the large gamma bars on the left form as they mark significant [music] support and resistance levels. Switch over to zero DTE only to isolate how the S&P may shift into the close. ## Main Chart | TRACE Walkthru #3 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/o6sCIXElbUE)* [music] >> When it comes to trading the S&P 500, Trace delivers you the most sophisticated heat map available, unveiling exactly how options flows are driving the [music] S&P 500 throughout the trading day. To utilize the main chart, Trace projects [music] three lenses: gamma, delta pressure, and charm. Across all three lenses, just [music] remember blue is good and red is bad. This simple color association helps you spot what matters most when it matters most. Additionally, the blue line displayed on all three Trace lenses is our hero indicator and you can set to S&P equities, the S&P [music] 500, or none depending on your preference. Next, directly above the Trace heat map, you can find the market participant [music] toggle. This feature empowers you to view positioning for each individual trading entity. To start, we strongly recommend that you use market maker as this trader profile has the strongest generalized impact on zones of support and resistance. Moving on to the lenses and starting with the gamma lens, the gamma heat map displays clear zones of positive and negative gamma. The positive gamma zones, seen here in dark blue, are characterized by lower volatility. As for the negative gamma zones, here in red, these are characterized by higher realized volatility and sharper price action. Next, the delta pressure lens shows you how buying [music] and selling zones above and below the current price are changing throughout the day. The lens's contours are a top feature for members for how they visualize price action. Denser lines indicate [music] more condensed price action expectations, while wider contours indicate potential free action. Lastly, the charm lens can help you trade [music] into the close. This lens can isolate where market maker's natural hedging pressure should come from, often pinning price [music] between blue and red nodes. To adjust each view, you can zoom in or or keep the key levels, or change the chart's time scale to look back at historical dates. You can also use the toggle in the upper right to customize the [music] chart with the timeline at the bottom enabling you to replay the day's action, almost like watching the market story unfold in a highlight reel. For traders with a multi-day time horizon, Trace provides forward [music] daily snapshots of the heat map and strike plot for up to 5 days ahead, accessible from the calendar drop-down in the [music] top right corner. This lets you spot projected areas of support, resistance, volatility before each session unfolds. ## Trading Approach | TRACE Walkthru #4 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/NL-DPXrxmM0)* [music] >> Now, we will walk you through a basic strategy to use trace when trading the S&P 500. Most traders using trace should start with market makers selected as the market participant as this provides the most precise view into dealer hedging activity. We recommend beginning with the gamma lens at the start of the trading day. This shows where the market reflects zones of positive gamma and low volatility in blue or negative and higher volatility in red. Then we suggest switching to the delta [music] pressure lens throughout the morning and into the early afternoon to see the shifting amounts of positive and [music] negative pressure building or releasing. Then as we head into the close, we advise [music] checking the charm lens to see where nodes of blue positive gamma or red negative gamma are forming. The blue zones can be sticky or provide a magnetic effect while red zones [music] often repel trading highlighting the most likely place the S&P may finish the day. All the while you can track the activity within the GEX bars on the left how [music] the key positions and gamma bars change during the trading day. Trader tip: For intraday trading, historically, selling options in a negative gamma environment comes with more risk due to larger price swings. Look to sell covered premium in positive gamma environments where options are providing more [music] stability. ## Gamma in Action | TRACE Walkthru #5 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/DCSCA9yiZPs)* [Music] Spy Gamma identified a large zerodte captain condor options position in SPX that created significant gamma exposure at specific strike levels 5910 to 5960 acting as a powerful price magnet. Gamma-driven hedging behavior generates an intraday magnet that pulls the market back towards these gamma heavy levels, providing traders with key support and resistance zones. In this example, we saw the market unable to break out above the resistance created by the top end of the range on the GEX bars. ## Delta Pressure in Action | TRACE Walkthru #6 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/5Eyu1ZkRPds)* The market initially declined from the open [music] until hitting strong positive delta pressure around 10:30 a.m. Eastern where market maker buying support created a floor and sparked a rally. The upward move continued [music] as positive delta pressure provided institutional buying power throughout the late morning session. However, around 12:30 p.m. Eastern, when touching levels with negative delta pressure, market makers are forced to become net sellers in creating selling pressure that cap the rally and began weighing on the market. ## Charm in Action | TRACE Walkthru #7 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/iNEm7SGaylg)* Based on the trace charm pressure heat map, traders monitor concentrated buying and selling pressure [music] zones shown as red and purple areas to identify potential support and resistance levels. In this June 26th example, significant overhead selling pressure developed above 6140 on S&P, creating a dynamic resistance zone that prevented the market from breaking higher. As SPX rallied on bullish momentum, it got pinned at 6138, right in between the negative and positive pressure zones. ## Overview | Options Calculator Walkthru #1 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/umeoVWpRYcU)* See your expected profit or loss before you make a trade with Spot Gamma's best-in-class options calculator. With clear visuals and dynamic modeling, you can see exactly how volatility and key spot gamma support and resistance levels drive your P&L both now and as expiration [music] approaches. Getting started is easy as you can input an initial position in several ways. First, choose from preset [music] options in the upper right corner to instantly load a preset option structure. Another great way is to add puts or calls right within the frame by clicking on the upper left tabs. Then to adjust your strikes, you can simply drag any option along the X-axis to test out your trade approach before you put it on as the calculator updates with live prices and reflects your new P&L right above the chart. Want another great way to create a new trade or change the dates on the existing position? You can scroll down the page to see each individual leg broken out with all of its key features. Here you can refine your analysis by changing individual options inputs. [music] Reduce or increase the implied volatility values, testing whatif scenarios that reflect a different time or environment, and save your positions to track your theories as you improve your trading approach. With all these unique spot gamma features, we truly believe you will have an enhanced way to generate new trade ideas with precision. Trading options means trading volatility. And with the spot gamma options calculator, you can model volatility, manage risk, and master your trades. ## Key Metrics for Any Name | Options Calculator Walkthru #2 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/rxsQkGxEipU)* Spot Gamma has designed the options calculator to provide a fast data-rich view of how to model a trade for any symbol. In this video, we'll take a look at how to view core features before you enter an order. In the upper left section of the screen, you'll find the metrics panel. This is where you choose which key statistics you want displayed as you evaluate any name. Here you can surface core measurements like current price and volume levels, historical metrics, key support and resistance zones, and multiple ways to compare current pricing to historical premiums based on implied volatility. Additionally, by scrolling over any feature, you can see a clear definition of the inputs that define the metric. To select your name of interest, type it into the top field. Next, adding any metric is simple. Just click the pencil icon, choose your field of interest, and that value instantly populates within the viewing pane. And to delete any metric, click on X to remove it from your visual field. Your selections will remain visible as you evaluate options positions, making it easy to reference the data that supports your trade thesis. All users have access to the general stock characteristics while pro and alpha users have access to all 30 metrics powered by spot gamma's internal calculations. Next, we will dive into more functionality within the options calculator so you can make sure you are best prepared to optimize your trading approach with spot gamma. ## Options Strategies | Options Calculator Walkthru #3 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/nt2o2KodYxA)* In this video, we'll focus on the strategy section of the options calculator located in the upper right corner of the screen. This feature allows you to evaluate a wide range of preset trading approaches, each displayed in the central viewing chart. When the calculator first loads, the default view shows a single long call. To explore a different setup, scroll through the list of 15 strategies, and a full definition will appear. Spot Gamma organizes them into three groups: directional, neutral, and volatility based. To select a new strategy, simply click the underlying name, and it will populate in the viewing pane. Switching is just as easy. Click another strategy, and the chart updates immediately. In the next videos, we'll walk through how to adjust the viewing pane, modify each leg of the trade, and adjust a position to reflect potential [music] changes in timing and volatility. ## Profit and Loss Chart | Options Calculator Walkthru #4 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/xrArtlbXlIU)* [music] In this video, we'll take a closer look at the profit and loss chart located in the central viewing pane of the spot gamma options calculator. The purpose of this chart is to show the return profile for any options position you choose to model. So let's start with the two axes knowing that as default the chart will load with a single long call option position at expiration. First on the x-axis you can see the numbers represent a range of prices for the underlying stock or index. Next, on the Yaxis, the calculator displays the profit or loss values that align with all relevant stock prices with green regions reflecting profitable zones and red regions reflecting areas where you will lose money. Additionally, there are a series of values that summarize your position with key criteria you need to know. The initial symbol reflects the underlying stock or index being analyzed in the P&L chart. To the right of the symbol is the net credit or net debit you either receive if a credit or pay if a debit when you initiate a new trade. The next value is the projection date which tells you what date the chart is targeting when it displays your perspective P&L again with the expiration date as a default. There are many exciting ways to adjust the chart including the date shown here and we will unpack that once we have covered the basics. Lastly, we can see the current price, max profit, and max loss for any options trade clearly listed above the chart. So, next, let's discuss some ways to adjust the positions within the chart. In the last video, we covered how to display more complex strategies than just a simple long call option position. So, again, you can choose to initially load a preset strategy or add individual options and then adjust them to your preferential view. To do this, click on either add call or add put in the upper [music] left corner, and you'll add new legs to your options trade. Once you add a new options leg, you can drag it left or right to change its strike price, and the chart will update to reflect all of the updated metrics across the top list of metrics. And within the chart, you can even drag your cursor over any area of the chart to see the stock price and P&L box pop up and provide you with an exact value or pan and zoom out and back in with your mouse or touch screen. Lastly, there are a few convenience fields in the upper right hand corner of the P&L chart. First, if your chart gets out of the ideal viewing alignment, you can click on the restore default view toggle to get an ideal perspective of the P&L around your trade. And when you find a trade profile you're excited about sharing with other Spot members, you can click the URL by clicking on the share icon or just keep it for yourself by downloading a snapshot. Lastly, you can hide spot gamma key levels, maximize the size of the viewing pane, and click on the eye icon to see more detailed instructions on how to best apply the spot gamma options calculator. So, now we've covered how the spot gamma P&L chart empowers you to visualize trades and model different scenarios that can apply to any market condition. In the next video, we'll walk through how you can further customize individual legs of a position, change volatility assumptions, and take your trading to the next level. ## Legs, IV, & Saved Positions | Options Calculator Walkthru #5 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/jbLR5pAwxP0)* [music] So far we have covered the initial three sections of the spot gamma options calculator. The key metric section in the upper left corner, the option strategy section in the upper right corner, and the large central viewing pane that displays [music] the profit and loss for any trade. We will now review the final section where you can build new positions, change volatility dynamics for any option structure, and adjust and save your positions to [music] optimize your trading approach. Starting with the currently loaded long call fly, you can see there are two long call positions on either side of one short call position. Now, let's look at each feature and see what is static and what you can manipulate. Starting with the expiration, you can keep the preset expiration date or you can click the drop- down toggle and adjust the expiration date for your position. And just to the right of the expiration toggle, you can see the IV at a glance. But this is just the start of ways to adjust your position. Inside the position manager, you can customize every aspect of existing option leg. Starting with whether you want to keep them as they are or switch from buy to sell, keeping in mind that every change is reflected in your above P&L. Next, you can choose to adjust the quantity of options traded, whether it's a put or a call, adjust the strike, change the expiration date, and then watch as all these adjustments are reflected in the price of the options leg. Lastly, you can choose to change your overall return profile by adding a position and by adding a long or short stock position to your trade. And now for more advanced traders, Spotgama is proud to be one of the only calculators on the market that allows you to change your implied volatility settings so you can model what would happen to your trade profile in different market regimes. The first step to make this adjustment is to click on the IV settings toggle. Once you are in the IV settings window, you can change your reference point, shift implied volatility higher or lower, or adjust call input skew for specific expiration. To walk through each of these functions, let's start with the reference line. You can keep the current IV or add additional lines as reference points, keeping in mind that scrolling over the chart will display the volatility metrics associated with each return strike. Next, you can shift the IV to move the entire volatility curve up or down. Lastly, click on [music] the call skew to change the higher delta strike values or put skew to adjust IV values for lower delta downside [music] strikes. And to start over, click reset at any time to return to current market volatility value. And to make sure you know for now and later that IV settings have been adjusted, a yellow gear icon appears, [music] reminding you that customize volatility is in effect. The last features we want to highlight are that you can adjust current positions even further by clicking the red trash can icons to remove individual legs, clear your position, reverse all of the legs, and save your position for future reference. And finally, once you have developed the exact position you want to see, remember the central viewing pane is set to reflect the expiration date of the trade. This is very important because you want to know what your position will look like at any point during the trading period. And to change the date, you can move the slider to the left, displaying the P&L at any point in time with the original expiration profile remaining in a dashed outline. With all of these features, the spot gamma options calculator can deliver your edge as you can optimally shape your directional exposure, hedge risk, or fine-tune the return profile of your strategy. ## See Options Flow Drive Price | HIRO Walkthru #1 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/VW4QvGWrkEA)* Hero is Spotg's real-time indicator of options hedging pressure. Hero has been a flagship product since 2022 and remains one of our most popular indicators. Hero provides you with an instantaneous view of how options flows are driving the most active US stocks and indices, unveiling the direction and magnitude of expected price action. Traders use Hero in many impactful ways to validate their strategy, adjust position sizing, and decide when to trade with momentum or fade the flow. Now, let's break down the core functions that can make Hero your true trading edge. ## Find What Moves Markets, Fast | HIRO Walkthru #2 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/r8xSnMfzRVQ)* Welcome to Spotgama's hero indicator. You'll notice the layout includes a lefthand navigation and four separate panes with the largest visual displaying the hero chart within the trading view backbone. Starting with the spot gamma hero indicator, the upper left pane displays both the hero indicator using a purple line and the underlying stock or index price in white. We'll get more into how to tailor your view to best suit your trading needs later in this section. To the right of the hero visual, there's a short description of the name of interest, which includes the current price, price change, and the hero volume. Next, on the bottom right, you have a new ideas section where you can see what names have exceptional options influence, track your favorite stocks according to your watch list, or see when moves show up within spot gamma alerts in real time. The last piece to cover is tape, which sits below the hero window. Tape provides a view into real-time options trades with more than 10 filters you can choose from, helping you dial in on how key flows can influence your positioning. The flow data view can provide strong sentiment information indicating whether a name has a bullish or bearish positioning. Switching over to the contracts data tab, you will see the flow data from tape aggregated by strike and expiration, which shows you which strikes have the largest trading volumes. Lastly, the stock screener tab shows the full list of tickers available within Hero, including a gauge where the last five days are overlaid against the gray background, and the white circle reflects today's positioning from bearish to bullish. ## Read Calls, Puts & 0DTE | HIRO Walkthru #3 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/BTioVg2iO04)* When it comes to Hero, you have many ways to make the view your own. Starting with the default view and easy to use toggles, Hero shows you the total lens, which displays [music] the impact of all trades with a single purple line. To separate hero into puts and calls, click on put call, which will then separate the hero indicator into an orange line for calls and a blue line for puts. If you want to dial in just the next expiration flows, commonly referred to as zero DTE, you can enable this view via the next expiry [music] function. Also, you can choose to watch the zerodte hero indicator by itself or along with all trades to look for divergences. Most importantly, before we [music] dive into additional functionality, we want to ensure you feel comfortable reading the hero chart to see how options flows are [music] driving your stocks. The total hero going upward indicates positive options flow pressure, while downward movement indicates negative [music] options flow pressure. Then to get greater insight into the specific options driving price, you can split [music] the total again into puts and calls. When the orange call line goes upward, that reflects call buying from traders and the blue line going upward reflects put selling. Conversely, downward call line trajectories would indicate call selling by traders and downward putline [music] trajectories would indicate put buying. Next, to make more adjustments to the visual field, click on the settings icon and a new table opens. You will see a few of the same lenses with all trades [music] in next expiry along with a retail lens that displays total options traded by retail as a red line. This view was popular during the GameStop [music] craze and can also be split into puts in magenta and calls in gold. Next, for the rolling window, we suggest traders start with the 1-day view, anchoring [music] to the total order flow for the day before dialing into specific time windows. Additionally, Hero provides a oneweek look back period that will show you at a glance [music] how the options pressure has driven your stock over the last five trading days. Lastly, you can choose to display or hide spot gamma flow alerts. [music] Remove extended hours to exclude pre-market trading and toggle spot gamma key levels on or off. Trader tip: One of the best ways to apply hero is to watch for when the momentum flatlines or starts to [music] reverse to take profit or play a reversion trade. ## Beginner Trade Strategy | HIRO Walkthru #4 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/vOvDNm4GL_o)* One of the simplest ways to level up your trades with Hero is to watch for when options flows are driving your stock of interest. Wait until hero flat lines or reverses and then fade the move. In this example, you can see Microsoft move higher at the start of the day with strong options pressure flagged by the Hero Flow alert. In this case, the heroflow alert precedes a sharp move higher and then around 10:15 a.m. the positive upward pressure reverses sharply lower. Once the options pressure had turned bearish, the stock trended lower over the course of the day. This happens frequently and spy statistics have returned results that indicate once these flows shut off, the stock reverts back towards its original starting position around 70% of the time. ## Intermediate Trade Strategy | HIRO Walkthru #5 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/-fGdkks0Rvg)* One intermediate level trading strategy would be to look for trading opportunities when hero approaches the call wall or put wall to play a reversion. Let's take a look here at a Netflix example. When you see hero streaking downward toward a spot gamma put wall and then flatlining or reversing at the put wall. This may be an ideal time to sell a zero DTE put spread below the put wall. Trader tip: To find new trading opportunities where the call wall or put wall come into play, select alerts from the menu on the right to be notified when stocks either breach the call wall or put wall. This can help you stay on top of moves and optimize your trading day. ## See Where Volatility is Mispriced | Volatility Dashboard Walkthru #1 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/PcmpuBXfdlc)* [music] Welcome to the spot gamma volatility dashboard. Powered by real-time data and spot gamma's proprietary algorithms, the dashboard delivers a comprehensive view of current market volatility. It's a powerful tool for options traders [music] and a valuable sentiment gauge for both futures and equities traders. At its core, the volatility dashboard reveals [music] whether options are relatively cheap or expensive across strikes and expirations, highlighting mispricings, and revealing the potential for unexpected market moves. The dashboard [music] is organized into four primary views: fixed strike matrix, term structure, volatility skew, and VIX term structure. And each page offers a distinct perspective, which we'll break down next. ## Spot Cheap vs. Expensive Options | Volatility Dashboard Walkthru #2 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/2TRQ0L2SxIY)* [music] Let's start with the fixed strike matrix. The fixed strike matrix displays which options are relatively cheap or expensive based on implied volatility. This display is updated throughout the day and can be customized [music] according to your preferences. To check out your favorite name, simply type it into the search bar at [music] the top left. By default, cells are colorcoded red or green. based on the implied [music] volatility zcore. If the sell is red, implied volatility is lower than the average implied volatility over the past 2 months. Meaning options may be attractive to purchase [music] and the market may be more stable. If the sell is green, implied volatility is higher than the implied volatility over the past [music] 2 months, indicating options may be attractive to sell and the market may be more volatile. to get a broader view. Within the settings function, you [music] can also zoom out to look at the volatility landscape and then revert back to your normal view. Additionally, you can adjust the expiration range, percent out of the money, or change your table layout by adjusting the number of expirations or strikes. Next, just below, you can also make several adjustments within the table data settings. [music] The statistical mode is on as a default setting and indicates how high or low implied volatility [music] is to the statistical mean. When you toggle this off, you will see a [music] teal gradient that is based on just today's values. Next, the skew premium setting displays the dollar value of premium associated specifically with [music] volatility skew reflecting how much traders are paying for larger tail moves rather than percentages. The show highlights function will bring a bright yellow border around [music] potentially mispriced options based on the implied volatility levels of adjacent strikes and expirations. Then the compare mode will [music] let you compare the options from today relative to a previous specific date. Lastly, the historical mode again lets you compare to previous dates. Trader tip, you can use the zoom out feature in settings to see a complete view of the current IV landscape, which [music] acts as a sentiment gauge comparing today's IV to the average over the last 90 days. ## Read Volatility Across Time Horizons | Volatility Dashboard Walkthru #3 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/fFtA3DnH4SI)* The term structure tab visualizes how implied volatility and option pricing evolves across expirations for at the money options by comparing short and longdated positioning. This interactive view uses real-time data to show how trader exposure is changing as the market moves. At the bottom of the main page, you can adjust the time frame using the sliding scale. The default setting is three months, but you can select any window from 1 day to one year. For additional context, the gray cone represents the volatility range between the 10th and 90th percentiles, helping you quickly identify tradable outliers. You can also hover anywhere over the chart to view specific expiration dates, key upcoming events, and corresponding volatility levels. Next, within the settings menu under the expiration date view, you can enable or disable the forward IV adjustment. This adjustment shows where implied volatility should be based on time decay, historical statistics, upcoming economic events, and Spock gamma's proprietary IV calculations. You can also select a shorter lookback period for comparison, or focus on a specific date of interest. To switch from a dateriven view to days to expiration, simply toggle the days to expiration option within settings. For additional guidance, click the eye icon on any spot camma product or visit our support center. Trader tip: check the gray shaded area of the cone to see if IV is higher for near-term expiration dates or further out expirations, paying attention to upcoming earnings or economic events. ## See Where Tail Risk is Priced | Volatility Dashboard Walkthru #4 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/DJ4_X8UtvB8)* [music] The third tab within the volatility dashboard is the volatility skew tab. Unlike [music] the term structure tab, which shows you options volatility over time at the same strike, the volatility skew tab shows you implied volatility [music] readings at one point in time across many strikes. This view is important for understanding if the market has bullish or bearish expectations for names you are trading. You can interact with the graph by sliding the scale at the bottom of the chart or highlighting specific areas with your mouse to reveal detailed statistics for [music] individual strikes. The main pane offers three display options. The money icon shows implied [music] volatility relative to strike prices. The triangle displays IV relative to deltas. And the percentage shows IV [music] relative to distance from the current price based on a percentage. Similar to the term structure tab, you can access the settings function to view statistics. And here you can choose to look deeper based on strike, [music] delta, or percent moneyiness. From there, you can choose your statistical look back period [music] or pick specific time frames with the ability to visualize multiple dates for comparison. For more information, click on the using volatility dashboard link at the top or click on the Ibox [music] to further learn about how to apply the volatility skew tab. Trader tip. You can examine the shape of the curve smile to see if there is call skew or put skew. Unveiling where demand currently exists for options across strikes at a single expiration. ## Spot Shifts in Volatility Expectations | Volatility Dashboard Walkthru #5 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/yV_5ULT0R_c)* Spot's VIX term structure chart displays the prices of forward VIX futures contracts across expiration dates. Traders can use this chart to understand the overall risk of future volatility and to see where VIX options and futures traders believe volatility will expand or contract. [music] The chart defaults to the next 9 months of expirations with two projections reflected on the central viewing [music] pane with today in green and yesterday in gray. To adjust the time to expiration, you can use the bottom slider to select your preferred date range. To adjust the dates reflected in main view, you can adjust [music] on the settings function. The two offered lenses are expiration date and days to expiration. Within expiration date, you can remove the economic events, [music] add new dates, and hide or remove additional dates. Next, you can use days to expiration to compare the same curves over an x-axis based on specific days rather [music] than date ranges. By personalizing your view and customizing which dates you want to view, the [music] VIX term structure can help you quickly understand overall volatility expectations, see when volatility is expected to shift, and assess the magnitude [music] of future inflection points so you can optimize your trading approach. ## Match Strategies to Volatility | Volatility Dashboard Walkthru #6 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/UOKnO2TlRzg)* One way traders may enhance returns is by selling overpriced options against an existing long or short position. Spot Gamma's volatility dashboard helps identify which options are expensive and where premium selling opportunities may exist. To get started, load your ticker of interest into the fixed strike matrix. Then open the settings menu and enable show highlights. This instantly flags strikes with unusually high or low implied volatility [music] compared to prior periods with yellow boxes. If you're long the stock, you can look to sell out of the money call options [music] above the current price where volatility is elevated. If you're short the stock, [music] you can instead focus on selling out of the money puts below the current price. This beginnerfriendly approach allows you to collect options premium while waiting for the underlying to move in your expected direction. While the volatility dashboard supports many advanced strategies, this simple premium selling setup is an effective place to start. ## Trader Volatility Across Expirations | Volatility Dashboard Walkthru #7 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/kheqm3r-V5U)* Let's now take a look at an advanced strategy for situations where you believe the market is overestimating the size of an upcoming move. This setup focuses on using calendar spreads to take advantage of inflated near-term volatility. First, load your name of interest into the term structure tab and then look at implied volatility in the gray cone. When near-term IV is near the top of the cone or pushing above it, that signals shortdated options are relatively expensive. Next, shift your focus to longerdated options, typically 30 to 60 days out from the event timeline. Next, to further confirm your thesis, enable the forward IV adjustment within the term structure settings. When the adjusted curve sits above the standard term structure curve around your target date, it indicates the market is pricing in an unusually large move during that specific time window. Now, the trade that you want to consider is a calendar spread. You sell the expensive near-term option and buy a longerdated option at the same strike price. If the anticipated large move fails to materialize, the near-term option decays rapidly while the longerdated option holds its value. This strategy is most effective around eventdriven scenarios such as earnings releases or FDA approvals when you believe actual volatility will be lower than what the market is expecting. And by trading the same strike across different expirations, your risk is capped. A key component to creating a disciplined and repeatable trading strategy, something we emphasize here at Spot Gamma. ## Visualize Momentum Through Options Flow | Tape Walkthru #1 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/2-18i83ZPGg)* Tape is Spotg's options flow tool, showing you options trades in real time. Tape was built by Spotgamma to empower traders to separate the signal from the noise and trade options flows with greater precision. And when you pair TAP's options flows with our proprietary models, you can get a true trading edge. At its core function, tape brings you real-time information on options transactions as they occur, providing detailed insights into live market activity with multiple scanners and filtering options. Tape helps you gauge market sentiment towards specific stocks, assess the conviction behind trades, and understand orderflow magnitude and impact. And to supplement these individual videos, you can always click on the using tape box in the upper right corner to see ways to trade with tape or follow an in dashboard tutorial that includes a user guide. We'll next explore how to use the market highlights, unique filters, volume, premium in Greeks, and both flow data and contract data to optimize your trading approach with spot gamma's tape. ## Surface High-Impact Flow Fast | Tape Walkthru #2 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/4sy8JIiWqic)* When getting started with tape, you'll find four scanners at [music] the top of the viewing pane. Top options volume, top daily gamma, notional, top daily movers, and largest daily trades. [music] For those with a specific ticker already in mind, you can jump directly to searching. However, if you're looking to discover potential [music] trading opportunities, these scanners provide new names you can further investigate. Top options [music] volume shows which names have the highest options volume since the prior day's close. Top gamma notional highlight stock where gamma exposure has changed [music] significantly from the previous day. Top daily movers surfaces individual stocks with notable price movement and largest [music] daily trades capture when institutional size block trades occur. Trader tip. When you find names of interest, you can then filter these scanners to look for [music] trades expiring in less than a week to focus on what flows are most impacting your trading near term. ## Gauge Market Posture | Tape Walkthru #3 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/Sz0jSiyRV_M)* Below the four market highlight section and still [music] within the central viewing pane, you'll find five pie charts that break down both put and call activity for any selected name. The first shows the total number of options contracts traded across all names included. The second [music] shows the total options premiums. And the last three break out the summary by segmenting [music] delta, gamma, and vega across all options traded in your included list. And for definitions at any time, you can scroll [music] over the eye boxes included within the flow summary scanners. Together with the other parts of tape and all [music] other spot gamma products, these flow summary visuals offer an at a glance view of bullish versus bearish positioning. Trader tip. Use these charts to uncover new trade ideas in tape or to confirm directional bias in names you're already [music] tracking in Equity Hub or Hero. ## Filter For Real Trading Edge | Tape Walkthru #4 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/tJRtTa3lS98)* Tape was created to help you more easily [music] find the signal within the noise as you optimize your trades within tape. After selecting [music] a name of interest, you can filter by time frame, select names from one of your watch lists, or choose from a preset scanner to bring in many unique ways to search [music] for new names. Next, you can evaluate all expirations or look at a more narrow range by using the expiration slider. Additionally, you can choose to only see trades above a certain threshold by moving the premium toggle slider to the right. Below these filters and features, [music] you can further narrow your search by selecting from 15 additional stock characteristics, all which display their definition when you scroll over them. And lastly, once you find a filter that fits your criteria, you can always save it for future use. ## Spot Bullish vs Bearish Pressure | Tape Walkthru #5 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/xMFSCl_R1_U)* [music] Within tape, the flow data tab provides a real-time feed of options trades showing you key information for each transaction. [music] This table helps you assess three important aspects of market activity. First, you can gauge directional sentiment by observing whether Tate's flow data unveils more aggressive call buying or put selling, suggesting a bullish outlook for any name. Or conversely, [music] more aggressive call selling or put buying reflects a bearish outlook for any index or stock. [music] Second, you can visualize the conviction behind trades by increasing the premium threshold and looking to see if the options purchased are trading on the bid or ask. Third, you can visualize whether these [music] larger options flows are zero DTE or longerdated by adjusting the expiration slider. Then switching to the contract data lens, tape aggregates this information to show you which strikes and expirations [music] are trading the most heavily for your selected stocks. You can then sort by strike, expiration, and multiple other criteria to build your ideal visual profile, empowering you to identify the most significant activity and its impact on your trading approach. ## See Breakouts Before They Happen | Tape Walkthru #6 *[YouTube](https://youtu.be/Vyryczz9L_E)* As PLTR traded near $153 and approached [music] the 155 call wall, short-term resistance would have typically kept the stock below the call wall. However, the [music] spot gamma Hero indicator showed meaningful call buying reflected by the rising orange line. Looking deeper, tape revealed significant [music] and consistent call buying and put selling at strikes in the 150 to 155 range with medium to longdated expirations. This sustained bullish flow highlighted by 175 million hero reading and over 40 million in longerdated calls suggests traders should ride momentum rather than fade it. While the callwall did its job for the following week, PLTR ultimately surged above 180 in August. The key edge was tape [music] identified this momentum early, empowering traders to avoid taking premature profits and to ride the move higher.