TRACE is a powerful tool designed to help you visualize how the options market exerts pressure on the SPX Index in real time. TRACE unveils where the SPX Index may find zones of buying & selling pressure, areas of heightened volatility, and price consolidation between 9:30 AM ET and 4:00 PM ET.

Image description: Animation of TRACE with real-time price action on September 11, 2024.

What Data Does TRACE Use?

TRACE is built off of SpotGamma’s proprietary Options Inventory Model. TRACE ingests all options traded across the US exchanges, including dealer positioning information, and displays the dynamic influence of the Greeks on the SPX price in real time. This data is updated throughout the day, with a slider at the bottom of the page allowing users to look at setups from previous time periods.

What Features Are Included in TRACE?

TRACE features a Strike Plot, along with three models for viewing dealer hedging impact across time and strike price for a given trading day:

Strike Plot: The Strike Plot reveals the real-time market maker positions across SPX strikes for Gamma Exposure (GEX), Open Interest (OI), and Net Open Interest (Net OI). Each of these views can help you visualize which SPX strikes are most active and how positioning changes throughout the trading day.

Gamma: The Gamma lens is most useful in helping you anticipate local areas of higher or lower realized volatility. The relative strength of a gamma zone is shown by the depth of color with the strongest levels showing as dark blue or dark red.

Delta Pressure: The Delta Pressure lens displays the net change in market maker delta positioning across all prices and time frames.

Charm Pressure: Charm Pressure depicts how market maker hedging changes with respect to time and can be heavily influenced by large 0DTE volumes. Charm Pressure can be thought of as a key element in the pinning process that can be seen near positive gamma nodes.

How Do I Navigate TRACE Settings?

To understand how to best use TRACE, we recommend that you download the TRACE User Manual. This comprehensive guide walks through all key features of the tool, including descriptions of each model and how they can be used to support your trading.

SpotGamma Alpha subscribers can access SpotGamma TRACE here.