Options Flow Heatmap FAQ
How to read the three tabs: the Flow Heatmap, the GEX Profile and Max Pain.
Flow Heatmap
What is an options flow heatmap?
A grid of strike prices against expiration dates. Each cell shows the net dollar flow into that contract for the day: green where flow leaned bullish and red where it leaned bearish. Clusters stand out at a glance, so you can see which strikes and dates the market is leaning on without reading a tape line by line.
What does net flow mean?
Each cell combines the call flow and the put flow on that strike and expiry into one number, shown in thousands of dollars. Positive means the flow leaned bullish, negative means it leaned bearish. Hover or tap a cell to see the call and put parts separately.
What are the Cumulative and 5, 15 and 60 minute views?
Cumulative shows the whole session so far. The 5, 15 and 60 minute views show only what changed in that window, which is how you spot flow arriving right now rather than flow that built up hours ago.
Can I see how flow built up in one contract?
Yes. Click or tap any cell to open its history: a chart of net flow, call flow and put flow into that one contract through the day.
Why are some strikes and expiries hidden?
By default the grid shows strikes within $20 of the current price and expiries up to 60 days out, where most of the activity is. Turn on Show full chain to see every strike and expiry. The highlighted columns are the strikes on either side of the current price.
What does Auto-scale colors do?
By default colors use fixed dollar thresholds, so a deep green cell means the same size from one day to the next. Auto-scale stretches the colors to the largest cell on the screen, which brings out detail on quieter tickers and days.
GEX Profile
What is gamma exposure (GEX)?
Gamma exposure estimates how much options dealers have to buy or sell the underlying stock to stay hedged as its price moves. It is built from gamma and open interest at each strike. The GEX Profile shows that exposure strike by strike.
What do positive and negative gamma mean?
When dealers are net long gamma, their hedging means buying dips and selling rallies, which tends to calm price action. When they are net short gamma, their hedging means selling dips and buying rallies, which tends to make moves bigger. The page shows which regime the ticker is in.
What is the zero gamma level?
The estimated price where total gamma exposure flips from positive to negative. Above it, dealers are typically long gamma and price action tends to be calmer. Below it, they are typically short gamma and swings tend to be larger. Crossings of this level often come with bigger moves.
What are the call wall and put wall?
The call wall is the strike above the current price with the most positive gamma. Dealer hedging tends to push back as price nears it, so it often acts as resistance. The put wall is the strike below the current price with the most negative gamma. It often acts as a floor, and a break below it can speed up a move. Both shift as new positions are opened.
What do the All, 0DTE, 1W and 1M filters do?
They limit the profile to options expiring today (0DTE), within a week, within a month, or all expirations. Short dated options have the most gamma near the current price, so the 0DTE view often matters most for today's trading.
Max Pain
What is max pain?
Max pain is the price at which the largest dollar value of options would expire worthless on a given expiration date. In other words, it is where option holders as a group would be paid the least.
How is max pain calculated?
From open interest at every strike. For each candidate price, the page adds up what call and put holders would be paid if the stock closed there at expiration, and picks the price where that total is smallest. The pain curve on the page shows that total at every strike.
Does price move toward max pain?
Sometimes, especially in the final days before a large expiration with heavy open interest. Nothing forces price to go there, though, so treat it as context, not a target. The further spot is from max pain and the less open interest there is, the weaker the pull tends to be.
General
How often does the page update?
During market hours the page refreshes about every minute. The Last poll card shows when the latest update arrived, and the Refresh button on the GEX and Max Pain tabs pulls the newest numbers on demand.
Which tickers are covered?
A tracked list of tickers that you can browse in the ticker box. Pick the ticker on the Flow Heatmap tab and the GEX Profile and Max Pain tabs follow it.
Who can use the Options Flow Heatmap?
The live page is part of AI Pro. Signed out visitors see a sample of SPY from the most recent completed session. See AI Pro pricing.
Is this financial advice?
No. The page shows options activity and estimates for information only. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell anything.
Related: the Whale Alert Tracker FAQ for individual large options trades, and the Dark Pool FAQ for off-exchange block prints.
See the whole options picture, live
The Flow Heatmap, GEX Profile and Max Pain are part of AI Pro.
For information only, not investment advice. Options and off-exchange data show what traders did, not what a stock will do. Trading involves substantial risk of loss.