TRACE is a powerful tool that helps visualize how options market activity influences intraday S&P 500 price movement. This influence is captured through a strike plot and heatmap highlighting levels of support & resistance, and zones of heightened volatility.

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

What Data Does TRACE Use?

TRACE is specifically built off of SpotGamma’s proprietary Options Inventory Model that determines intraday positioning for SPX options. The data powering TRACE updates every 1-minute throughout the trading day for active day traders, while also providing 5-day forward projections to support swing trading strategies.

Within TRACE, users can select to view options positioning from Market Makers (default), Customers, Pro Customers, Firms, and Broker Dealers.

What Features Are Included in TRACE?

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

Strike Plot: The Strike Plot reveals the real-time options positioning 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, when looking at Market Makers specifically, 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 options delta positioning across all prices and time frames.

Charm Pressure: Charm Pressure depicts how options positioning changes with respect to time and can be heavily influenced by large 0DTE volumes. When looking at Market Makers specifically, 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.

TRACE can be access by SpotGamma Alpha subscribers here.

Support articles explain the mechanics. The TRACE product page shows how traders use this context daily — with real market scenarios and a clear breakdown of you can improve your entries rather than chasing moves.

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