Reading the HeatMap: Finding Opportunities Across the Market

What the HeatMap Shows You

Most GammaLens tools focus on a single ticker. The HeatMap zooms out and shows you gamma exposure across the entire market — 4,500+ US equities and ETFs in one view.

Each tile represents a symbol. The size reflects relative magnitude (by market cap or total gamma). The color reflects the direction and intensity of gamma exposure: green for positive GEX, red for negative, with brightness indicating magnitude.

At a glance, you can see which sectors are in positive gamma (stable) and which are in negative gamma (volatile). You can spot outliers — individual stocks with extreme gamma positioning that might be setting up for unusual moves.

Reading the Map: What to Look For

Start with the big picture. Are most tiles green or red? This tells you the broad market regime. When the HeatMap is mostly green, the market tends to be calm. When it shifts red, expect broader volatility.

Next, look for outliers. A single deep red tile in a sea of green is worth investigating — that stock has unusual negative gamma that might be setting up for a large move.

Compare sectors. Tech might be in positive gamma while energy is negative. This helps with sector rotation decisions and identifying where the market's structural stress is concentrated.

You can toggle between GEX, DEX, and VEX metrics, and normalize by 21-day volatility to compare exposure on an apples-to-apples basis across different volatility regimes.

Custom Watchlists

The HeatMap's My Lists feature lets you create custom symbol groups. Build a watchlist for your core holdings, a sector ETF list, or a "high conviction" list of stocks you're monitoring.

Custom lists make the HeatMap personal — instead of scanning 4,500 symbols, you can focus on the 20-30 that matter to your portfolio and strategy.

Lists sync to your account and persist across sessions. You can create, edit, and delete lists directly from the HeatMap interface.

From HeatMap to Deep Dive

The HeatMap is your starting point, not your destination. When you spot an interesting symbol, click it to jump directly into the Gamma Profile for that ticker.

A typical workflow: scan the HeatMap for negative gamma outliers → click through to the Gamma Profile to see the full exposure picture → open the Options Matrix for strike-level detail → form a trading thesis based on the structural levels.

This top-down approach — market scan → sector → individual ticker → structural analysis — is how institutional desks approach market structure. The HeatMap gives you that same workflow.