Gradient Chart
The Gradient Chart is one of VolSignals' signature visualizations. It overlays a candlestick price chart on top of a colored gradient background that represents the Greek exposure across time and price, letting you see at a glance how price action relates to the underlying options positioning structure.
What This View Shows
The chart combines two layers of information:
- Candlestick Layer — Standard OHLC candlesticks showing intraday price action for the selected product
- Gradient Background — A continuous color field where each pixel's color and intensity represents the Greek exposure value at that price level and point in time
The gradient colors may vary by greek and are fully customizable. In each chart stronger colors indicate larger absolute values.
For example, with Gamma selected: green areas represent positive gamma exposure (where market makers would trade against the market to hedge), while red areas represent negative gamma exposure (where market makers would trade with the market to hedge).
Greek Selector
Click the Greek dropdown to choose which exposure type to visualize:
Greeks
| Greek | Description |
|---|---|
| Gamma | Net gamma exposure. Positive gamma exposure means market makers must trade against the market to hedge (a suppressive force). Negative gamma exposure means market makers must trade with the market to hedge (an amplifying force). |
| Delta | Net delta exposure — indicates the total delta position |
| Charm | Rate of delta change over time. Positive Charm (default red gradient) means that market makers will need to sell as time to expiration decreases, negative Charm (default green gradient) means they will need to buy as time to expiration decreases to hedge their positions. |
| Vanna | Delta sensitivity to implied volatility changes |
| Delta Change | The Delta Change greek represents the difference between the current position delta and the calculated position delta at different future points in time and price. We assume that Market Makers are always hedged, so the difference between these two deltas represents how much delta they would need to hedge from the current time and underlying price to a simulated future time and price. This view often shows the path (or paths) of least resistance. It can also be thought of as combining the effects of both gamma and charm into a single view. |
Configuration Panel
Participant Filter
Select which market participant category to display. Default is Market Maker.
Volatility Controls
- Vol Adjust: 0% — Use current implied volatility (default)
- Vol Adjust: +1% — Shift implied volatility up by 1 percentage point to see how the exposure landscape changes
Display Options
- Background Color — Set the chart background: Default (dark), White, or Black
- Show Price Line — Toggle the horizontal line at the current price
- Show Contour Lines — Toggle contour lines tracing boundaries between positive and negative exposure regions and ridge lines tracing peaks and troughs.
- Show Grid Lines — Toggle reference grid lines
Gradient Colors
- Green/Red — Default color scheme
- Blue/Yellow — Alternative color scheme
- Custom — Select your own colors for positive and negative values
- Reverse +/− assignment — Swap which color represents positive vs. negative
Color Intensity
Fine-tune how the color gradient responds to data values with intensity curves:
- Square Root (Boost Low) — Emphasizes subtle values
- Power Law (Custom) — Configurable via the power exponent slider
- Arcsinh — Compresses extreme values while preserving mid-range detail
Gamma is the most popular gradient to start with — it shows where hedging flows will support or amplify price moves. Look for the green-to-red transition (the zero contour) — this is often a key level where market behavior changes. Enable Contour Lines to clearly see the boundaries. Switch to Charm to understand how exposure shifts overnight due to time decay. Use Vol Adjust +1% to see how a vol spike would reshape the Greek landscape.