|VS3D™ · Trading|VS3D™ · TradingIn this session, you'll learn how to use positions to estimate the day's trading ranges, how to use the Gamma gradient for spread selection and directional exit targets, and how to use Charm to predict the directional bias active across different parts of the range. We discuss how we use the simple, risk-defined "butterfly" trade to exploit these three Key elements of the data every day.
VS3D Live Education: Trading, live in the dashboard, 2:00 PM ET today. About 30 minutes, no registration. We'll go through today's range and levels on screen and then take your questions. The join link is posted in Discord #announcements and on X the morning of each session.
Start the free 7-day trialThe trial opens the same dashboard, so you can hover the same fields while we're on them. This week's pages: positions, gamma and charm. Reading before or after: The Annotated Guide and the community onboarding guide.
This morning's captures, 8:20 AM ET, on the position after Wednesday's close. The two biggest lines in today's expiry are both market maker longs, one about 30 points over spot near the top of the straddle range and one about 20 points under it just inside the lower boundary, with two more longs right at spot. The biggest short sits on the lower boundary and a cluster of shorts starts just over the upper one. So the index is marked between long lines on every side, and the shorts sit just outside the range. The strikes, the sizes and the straddle are for today's 2:00 PM ET session and are blurred on these screens; the spot label is not. The four screens below show the position and what it does to the overnight tape, to gamma and to charm.
Positions by Strike in the VS3D dashboard at 8:20 AM ET: the market maker net position in the Oct 8 expiry, one bar per strike, blue where they're long and gold where they're short. The dotted lines are spot plus and minus the straddle. Hover a bar for the line and its approximate size.
The market maker net position in today's expiry (Oct 8 PM), one bar per strike. Right of center they are long (blue), left of center they are short (gold). The dots are Wednesday's 4 PM settle, so the bars minus the dots are what changed overnight. Capture 8:20 AM ET, spot 7,772.35. The strikes, the sizes and the straddle are for the session; the sizes quoted here are read off the chart scale and are approximate.
Down 29.37 from Wednesday's close. The two dotted lines above and below are spot plus and minus the straddle, the range the options market has priced for the session.
One of the two biggest lines in the window, about 2,800 contracts long, a few points inside the upper edge of the straddle range. A long line is where a test tends to stall: under its strike the position gets shorter as time passes and market makers buy.
About 2,100 and 1,950 contracts long on the two strikes that bracket spot, roughly two thirds the size of the two big lines. The index opened the session marked between them.
The biggest line in the window, about 2,900 contracts long, a few points inside the lower edge of the straddle range. The gold charm pocket that opens late in the morning sits on this line.
About 1,800 contracts short, one strike under the lower long and a couple of points over the lower edge of the straddle range. The shorts are where the range gets tested.
Six short lines starting just over the upper edge of the straddle range and running about 30 points above it, the largest about 1,850 contracts at the top of the cluster. The red area that opens on the gamma gradient above the range from mid-morning is these lines.
Three small short lines, the largest about 650 contracts, between the longs at spot and the upper long.
Two small short lines of about 600 and 300 contracts.
Under the lower boundary the lines alternate long and short, none larger than about 850 contracts.
About 600 contracts long above the short cluster.
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The overnight range in the futures at the SPX-equivalent level, 6:00 PM Wednesday to 8:20 AM this morning: high 7,805.30 at 7:33 PM, low 7,752.05 at 6:31 AM, 7,769.05 at capture. That is about 53 points from high to low, most of it in a steady decline between 2 AM and 6:30 AM, from the upper long line down into the lower one, with about a third of it recovered by 8:20.
The overnight session in the futures, 6:00 PM ET Wednesday to 8:20 AM ET this morning, marked at the SPX-equivalent level. The legend carries the session high and low.
The high printed in the first two hours of the overnight session, a few points over the upper long line in today's expiry and inside the upper edge of the straddle range.
The largest move of the overnight session: a steady decline from the upper long line down through spot and into the lower long line.
The low printed about on the lower long line and inside the lower edge of the straddle range, and the futures were about 17 points higher by 8:20.
Where the futures sat when the dashboard captures were taken: -31.00 on the session, between the two longs at spot.
Read left to right for the overnight session.
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The Gradient Chart on gamma. Green is long gamma, and it covers the whole window through the first hour. A red area opens about 35 points over spot around 10 AM, on the short cluster over the upper boundary, and widens all day; by the close its bottom edge is about 30 points over spot. Under that the window stays green all session, brightest around the long lines at spot, until small red pockets open in the last half hour. The tooltip is the 9:30 AM column at spot: $3.51bn per 1% and -116.42 ES to trade on a $1 up move, about two thirds of yesterday's read.
The whole market maker position, every expiry, priced at every index level (vertical axis) and every time of day (horizontal axis), coloured by the sign of gamma. Green is long gamma: market makers sell futures into rallies and buy them on declines. Red is short gamma: they buy rallies and sell declines. Captured Oct 8, 2026 at 8:20 AM ET, before the open, on the position as it stood after Wednesday's close.
The at-the-money straddle for today's expiry at capture, the market's own estimate of the day's range. The number itself is for the session.
From the open to about 9:50 AM the field is green at every level in the window. Market makers are long gamma everywhere, so a move into either edge of the straddle range is faded by the hedge.
Short gamma opens about 35 points over spot around 9:50 AM and widens all day. By the close its bottom edge is about 30 points over spot, right at the upper edge of the straddle range. These are the short lines of today's expiry over the upper boundary. If the index is up there, market makers buy the move higher and sell the move lower.
From about 30 points over spot down to the bottom of the window the field stays green all day, brightest around the long lines at spot. A move at spot gets faded from the open to the close.
A threshold contour that marks the strongest long gamma at each time of day. It starts about 25 points under spot late in the morning and rises to spot by mid-afternoon.
Inside the red area a cyan curve marks where the short gamma is largest at each time of day: the top of the short cluster, about 60 points over spot.
From about 3:20 PM small short-gamma pockets open just over spot, under the lower boundary and about 50 points under spot, one per short line, as the expiring lines take over the profile.
The session clock. Read left to right for how the field changes as time passes with the index unchanged. Gamma concentrates on the expiring lines as the day decays.
The vertical axis is the index, blurred here; the window runs about 85 points either side of spot. Hover any point in the dashboard and the tooltip prices the position at that level and that time.
Oct 8, 2026, the 9:30 AM column of the Gradient Chart.
The simulated index level, 7,770.75, which is about where spot was marked before the open.
Gamma at the node: 58.21. Positive = market makers are long gamma here.
$3.51bn of futures to trade for a 1% move in the index. Yesterday's column at spot read $5.46bn.
-$45.2mm: the notional value of futures to trade on a $1 up move in the index. Negative = they sell into strength.
-116.42 ES: the futures to trade on a $1 up move in the index. Negative = market makers sell. Yesterday's column read about -180 ES.
The Gradient Chart on charm. Spot is in the blue, so with the index standing still market makers sell futures as time passes: -11.81 ES over the next five minutes at the 9:30 AM column, against +2.78 ES yesterday, a buy. Around 11:30 AM a gold pocket opens about 20 points under spot, on the lower long line, and widens to about 35 points under spot by 3 PM. Hold the index where it was marked this morning and the decay hedge there is a sale all day; a drift of 20 points lower puts it in the pocket from late morning, where it turns to buying.
The same position coloured by the sign of charm: how its delta changes as time passes with the index standing still. Gold is where the position loses delta and market makers buy futures. Blue is where it gains delta and they sell. Captured Oct 8, 2026 at 8:20 AM ET.
The at-the-money straddle for today's expiry at capture. The number itself is for the session.
Gold is negative charm. It covers the top of the window all session, from about 60 points over spot up. On this profile it only comes into play for a rally that has cleared the straddle range and the short cluster above it.
The dotted contour starts the day about 50 points over spot and drifts about 10 points higher by early afternoon. Treat it as a zone a few points wide.
Blue is positive charm. Spot is inside it from the open, so through the morning the decay hedge at spot is a sale. The 9:30 AM tooltip reads -11.81 ES over the next five minutes.
The pocket opens about 20 points under spot, on the lower long line, and widens into the afternoon: by 3 PM it runs from about 35 points under spot up to a few points under it. Under a long line's strike a long option loses delta as it decays, call or put, so the position gets shorter there and market makers buy.
Over the long lines the position gains delta as time passes, so market makers sell. That keeps the stretch from spot up to the boundary blue all day.
Below the pocket the decay hedge is a sale again, down to the bottom of the window.
Inside a blue region an orange curve marks the largest selling flow. From about noon it sits about 30 points over spot, on the upper long line.
The solid blue lines trace the level of heaviest passive buying at each time of day. From about 2:30 PM they run inside the gold pocket.
The same position produces stronger charm as expiration approaches, so the colours saturate through the afternoon and the last half hour alternates gold and blue, one pocket per expiring line. At 4 PM those lines are gone.
The session clock. Every column is a fresh simulation of the position at that time of day, with the index held at each level.
The vertical axis is the index, blurred here; the window runs about 85 points either side of spot.
Oct 8, 2026, the 9:30 AM column of the Gradient Chart.
The simulated index level, 7,770.84, about where spot was marked before the open.
Charm at the node: 5.91. Positive = the position gains delta as time passes and market makers sell. Negative = they buy.
-$4.59mm of futures to trade over the next five minutes at this level, with the index unchanged. Negative = market makers sell.
-11.81 ES: the same trade in futures contracts. Negative = sell. Yesterday's column at spot read +2.78 ES, a buy.
Market makers are long gamma across the whole window, so a move into either edge of the straddle range is faded by the hedge. At spot the decay hedge is a sale of about 12 ES every five minutes.
Short gamma widens over the top of the range from about 10 AM, so a move up through the upper boundary gets chased. Around spot the field stays green. From late morning market makers buy as time passes about 20 points under spot and sell above it.
The strikes, the sizes and the straddle behind these screens are on camera in the session, on the live position, with your questions on how the profiles fit what you trade.
The sections below. Sections 1 to 7 are the annotated guide built on the Thursday, September 3 session: Positions by Strike with that morning's levels, the same gradients hotspot by hotspot, and how the pieces went together that day. The mechanics are the same every day. The numbers and levels in those sections are dated September 3.
This is Positions by Strike in the VS3D dashboard at 6:40 AM ET: the market maker net position in the Sep 3, 2026 expiry, one bar per strike, blue where they're long and gold where they're short. The dotted lines are spot plus and minus the $32.10 straddle. The levels under the chart are the ones from that morning's meeting: tests at the short lines, balance at the long clusters. Hover a bar to see which is which.
The market maker net position in that day's expiry (Sep 3 PM), one bar per strike. Right of center they are long (blue), left of center they are short (gold). The dots are the prior session's 4 PM settle, so the bars minus the dots are what changed overnight. Capture 6:40 AM ET.
The at-the-money straddle at capture. The two dotted lines at 7,692.27 and 7,628.07 are spot plus and minus the straddle: the range the options market has priced for the session. Both second tests (7695 and 7635) sit right at those lines.
Two big long lines at the very top of the chart. They are above the 7695 test and the 7700 balance, so they only matter if the tape gets through the short cluster below them. Charm pulls toward longs, and these are where a late, extended rally would get pulled.
Six short lines in a row, with the biggest at 7710. Dealers short at the edge of the range = a test. The tape has to punch through all of it, and the framework says expect extension and rejection. Cross 7695 and the balance moves to 7700, but a balance inside a short cluster is weak and unstable.
The heaviest long cluster above spot, with the biggest line at 7675. This is the target on the upside: once 7665 is crossed, this is where the range resolves, and charm pulls toward it as the day decays. A strong balance is one where the longs sit on three adjacent strikes, not one.
One short line, five points above spot. The first thing the tape meets on a rally. Cross it and either we settle on 7675 or extend straight to 7695. Reject it and we reverse back through 7660.
Almost nothing on the line. Spot sits right on it, so it is the balance we open with, but with nothing holding it there, the first real test either side is what sets up the morning: 7665 five points up, 7645 fifteen points down.
Two short lines under spot, the 7645 one bigger. The first downside test. Cross 7645 and either the tape settles on the small long 7640 or extends to test 7635.
A modest long line wedged between two short ones. It counts as a balance once 7645 is crossed, but only while 7635 holds under it: a long line with a bigger short right below it is not a place to lean.
The biggest short line below spot, sitting a few points above the bottom of the straddle range. Cross it and the balance moves down to the strong 7625 cluster.
The heaviest long cluster below spot, with the 7630 line the second-biggest on the chart. If 7635 goes, this is where the range resolves, and it is the strike a downside fly would be short.
Three more long lines under the 7625 balance. Together with 7625 and 7630 they make the downside the longer side of the chart: more strikes long, one after another, with a clear peak. That is the shape the framework wants.
One short line between the long 7610 and the long 7600. Not a level in that day's framework (it sits below the second test), but it is the kind of alternating line that keeps the very bottom of the chart from being a clean target.
The single largest long line in the expiry, well below the straddle range. Not a level for that day unless 7635 goes and 7625 fails, but it is where the charm pull points if the downside really opens up.
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Reject a test = reverse tests and ranges until balance. Balance to open is 7660 (weak). Upside: 7665 then 7695. Cross 7665 and the balance is 7675 (strong), or the tape extends to test 7695; cross 7695 and the balance is 7700 (weak, unstable). Downside: 7645 then 7635. Cross 7645 and the balance is 7640 (weak, unstable), or the tape extends to test 7635; cross 7635 and the balance is 7625 (strong). Each test rejected reverses the tape back through the range toward balance.
Only in play once 7695 is crossed. Market makers are short from 7685 up to 7710, so a balance up here sits inside their short cluster: unstable by construction, with the long 7715 and 7720 lines just above it.
The second upside test, and the top of the straddle range (7,692). Short lines from 7685 through 7710. Cross it and the balance moves to 7700 (Weak / Unstable).
Market makers long 7670, 7675 and 7680: the heaviest long cluster above spot. Cross 7665 and this is where the upside resolves, unless the tape extends straight through to test 7695.
Short 7665, five points above spot. The first upside test. Cross it and the tape either settles on 7675 (Strong) or extends to test 7695.
The opening balance, right where spot sits. Almost nothing on the line itself, which is why it is weak: the strong balances are 15 points either side of it, at 7675 and 7625.
Short 7645 and 7650. The first downside test. Cross 7645 and the tape either settles on 7640 (Weak / Unstable) or extends to test 7635.
A modest long 7640 line wedged between the short 7645 and the short 7635. Balance only while 7635 holds.
Short 7635, the biggest short line below spot. The second downside test, a few points above the bottom of the straddle range (7,628). Cross it and the balance moves down to 7625 (Strong).
Market makers long 7630 and 7625, the heaviest long cluster on the chart after 7600. Where the range resolves if 7635 goes.
Strip that day's numbers away and this is the shape you're looking for. Dealers short at the edges, dealers long in the middle. Their hedging pushes price away from where they're short and, as the day decays, charm pulls it toward where they're long. So the shorts are the tests and the longs are the balance, and the structure follows from that.
The wings go at the tests. You're long the option at a strike the market is likely to run through on the way to being rejected, so if it does run, you're covered and the trade is capped instead of blown out.
The body goes at balance. You're short the options at the strike the tape settles on, and that's the strike you want to pin. Short the pin, never long the pin.
Buy one at the upper test, sell two at balance, buy one at the lower test. Usually about 15 points a side, a bit wider when the straddle is rich. Pay $2.50 to $4.00, look for two to four times that, and if the range goes, cut it and wait for the next range.
Same rules every session, in the order they get applied. Positions give you the range and the target, gamma tells you how the tape is going to behave, charm tells you which way it leans, and the structure is how you turn a weighted coin into a trade. The quotes are from the VS3D trading sessions.
The strikes market makers are short frame the range. Inside it, the strike they are longest is where the tape resolves. Hedging pushes price away from the max short and toward the max long, the opposite of the usual assumption about what market makers do.
"What is the range? Well, it's the dealer's max short. And then, what's the target inside the range? It's the max long."
Read the day's expiry as it stood at yesterday's close, after reconciliation. That position is unlikely to get closed, so its hedging path is real. Same-day prints mostly get unwound; they are noise, not structure.
"A lot of what you see in the massively overinflated volumes is noise. I'm looking for structure, something I can actually identify and trade off of."
You want several strikes short with a clear peak on one side and several long with a clear peak on the other, so the pressure is consistent across the range. Alternating long, short, long, short is a fishbone: nothing to trade.
"When you get that, you get a powerful force that's consistent through them."
The balance point is the long cluster the range resolves to once the other flows quiet down, and it is always the short strike of the structure. You do not buy it. You sell the tests and let the tape bring you to it.
"You want your short options to be what you pin. You don't want to ever land on a long option."
At a short cluster the tape either extends beyond it or gets rejected. Give it about half an hour of chewing at the level. Rejection is the signal; reversion toward balance is the trade. Repeated returns to a level you have broken are thin ice, not confirmation.
"It's like a fork. There's a probability of going up or down, but not flat."
The first 90 minutes routinely move a full day's straddle in minutes. Decay flows do not play out against that. Until volume and aggression drop, every balance level behaves like a test: let it extend, wait for the rejection.
"In the morning, you almost treat all the levels as test levels. You should not even be thinking about balance."
A crack of the boundary flips the passive flow you were leaning on against you, so the hypothesis is gone. Three crossings of the level, or 15 to 20 minutes spent beyond it, and you are out. There is another range with its own balance point, or there is no trade.
"It might come back, but it's not grounded in my approach anymore, so ignore it, it's done."
Long gamma is glue: liquidity, stickiness, a good place to sell options and fade the edges. Negative gamma means no stabilizer: widen the tolerance, take profit earlier, expect less precision. Gamma is never bullish or bearish.
"When you have negative gamma, I literally just downshift what I think is possible."
Charm is the passive drift from decaying hedges: away from the dealer shorts, toward the dealer longs. It is weakest at the open and strongest into the close. The day splits in three: the open to London close (ignore charm), London close to 2 PM (the entries, usually 11 to 11:30), 2 PM to the close (hold or fold).
"I almost never trade the open. My lens gives me no edge. It's just chaos."
If the cohort you can see is buying and price goes sideways, someone you cannot see is selling. When the known buyer turns seller later in the day, the balance breaks in a knowable direction. That is the bias the whole framework exploits.
"I know that my buyer that I'm witnessing will become a seller later. And that is enough to produce a bias in your outcomes."
Buy the wings, sell the middle at the balance strike, about 15 points either side, wider when the straddle is rich. Pay $2.50 to $4.00, look for 2x to 4x. The short middle decays fastest, so a wrong read can usually still be cut with half the premium.
"I'll exit for a profit and call it a loss, because my hypothesis didn't hit."
Under 5% of the account in any one trade. Play as much as possible forever, never double down when the range is lost because it is cheaper. Best days: slow, low flow, long gamma, a big clustered position with clean shape. Worst: chaotic mornings, negative gamma, messy multi-expiry cycles. Knowing when to sit out is the best asset.
"I don't care about being right. I care about walking away with money in my account."
The SPX-equivalent overnight range in the futures, 6:30 PM the night before to 6:40 AM that morning: low 7,651.70 at 1:21 AM, high 7,681.20 at 4:04 AM, 7,661.70 at capture. About 30 points, which is a straddle's worth, and all of it inside the second tests. Hover the marks to see which level each one sat on.
The high sat a few points above the 7675 balance and just under the short cluster that starts at 7685. It did not get into the 7695 test, and it came back down through 7675 and 7665 over the next two hours.
The low sat between the 7645 first test and the 7660 balance, and it was rejected sharply: the tape was back at 7665 within half an hour. Overnight the range stayed inside both first tests.
Where the futures sat when the captures were taken: right on the 7660 opening balance, having drifted down from the 4 AM high through the 7675 cluster and the 7665 test.
Roughly the 7675 line. The overnight tape spent about an hour above it around 4 to 5 AM and then came back through it, which is the pattern the framework expects at a strong balance early in the day: it gets traded through and rejected until the fast money clears.
Roughly the 7665 line. Crossed on the way up around 3:30 AM, crossed back on the way down around 5:45 AM. Overnight both crossings were quick: the extension-and-rejection behaviour of a test.
Roughly the 7660 line, where the futures sat at capture. The whole overnight session pivoted around it, which is what a balance is supposed to look like, even a weak one.
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The Gradient Chart on Gamma. Green is long gamma, and on September 3 it's green across the whole range until about 2 PM. The red shows up late, and it shows up right on the short clusters: 7690 to 7710 and 7650 to 7675. The tooltip is the 9:00 AM column at 7,660.71.
One greek of the whole market maker position simulated at every index level for every 10 minutes of the session. This capture is Gamma: the futures they have to trade per point of index movement. The full guide: volsignals.com/gamma.
SPX 7,660.17 at capture, down 6.51 from the 7,666.68 close. The straddle was $32.10.
From 7,575 up to 7,750 the field is green from the open until early afternoon. So market makers are long gamma and they are selling rallies and buying dips at every level in the range, and that's the backdrop for a range day: moves get absorbed instead of extended once the fast money is out of the way.
The short cluster from 7685 to 7710 turns the field red in the last 90 minutes. Above 7690 late in the day the hedge flips from absorbing to chasing: through the 7695 test late, market makers buy the break.
The short 7665 line, with the short 7645 and 7650 under it, goes negative late. That is the zone between the opening balance and the strong 7675 balance, so a late move through it gets chased rather than faded. It is also why the afternoon lean matters more than usual on September 3.
A small negative pocket at the top of the chart in the last half hour. Out of range for that day unless the upside opens up completely.
Sep 3, 2026, 9:00 AM column, read at the hovered level.
The simulated level, 7,660.71. Hover elsewhere on the field and every number below reprices.
Gamma at the node: 71.90. Positive = market makers are long gamma here.
$4.22bn of futures to trade for a 1% move in the index. The size of the lean.
-$55.1mm: the notional value of futures to trade on a $1 up move in the index. Negative = they sell into strength.
-143.81 ES: the futures to trade on a $1 up move. The number to carry to the tape: every dollar of rally from here gets met with about 144 ES of selling, and every dollar of dip with the same amount of buying.
The Gradient Chart on Charm. The flip sits at about 7,680 and spot opened about 20 points under it, in the blue. So with the index standing still, market makers sell futures as time passes, and the lean on September 3 is down, toward the long 7625 and 7630 cluster. It's light at 9:00 (-5.51 ES over the next five minutes, noise) and it builds into the afternoon pockets.
Same field, different greek. Charm is how the delta of the position changes as time passes, so which way the passive hedge leans with no move in the index at all. The full guide: volsignals.com/charm.
The dotted contour where charm crosses zero. It sits at about 7680 that morning and drifts up toward 7685 by early afternoon, so it runs right along the top of the 7675 balance cluster. Spot opened about 20 points under it.
Everywhere above the flip the field is gold, so that is negative charm: the position loses delta as time passes and market makers buy futures to stay hedged. That only helps a rally once it has cleared 7675 and 7680, so on September 3 the supportive side of the charm profile is above the first upside test, not at spot.
Spot is in the blue. Positive charm: the position gets longer as time passes and market makers sell futures. The morning meeting called it a bearish lean, and light: at 9:00 the tooltip reads -5.51 ES over the next five minutes at spot, which is noise. The lean gets stronger with the decay and shows up in the pockets after 2 PM.
The long 7670 to 7680 lines just above spot: late in the day an out-of-the-money long line loses its delta fast, so the position gets shorter and market makers buy. A late-afternoon tape sitting between the opening balance and 7675 gets a buying lean from this pocket.
Above 7700 late, the same long lines are in the money and gaining delta, so the sign turns and market makers sell. A late push through the 7695 test meets charm selling, which is why the 7700 balance is called unstable.
Below 7600 late in the day the big long 7600 line and the ones above it are in the money and gaining delta the other way, so market makers buy. Out of range for that day unless 7635 and 7625 both go, but it is where a downside extension would get pulled back from.
Sep 3, 2026, 9:00 AM column at 7,659.90.
Charm at the node: +2.76. Positive = the position gets longer with time = market makers sell.
-$2.1mm of futures to sell over the next five minutes at this level, purely from time passing.
-5.51 ES contracts to sell. Noise at 9:00, and the morning meeting said so. It runs every five minutes all day in one direction, and it gets bigger as the expiry decays, which is why the afternoon pockets matter more than this number.
We're long gamma across the whole range that morning and the opening balance is weak: 7660, right where spot sits, with almost nothing on the line. The strong balances are 15 points either side, 7675 above and 7625 below, and the first tests are close: 7665 five points up, 7645 fifteen points down. Charm leans down on September 3 with the flip at about 7680, so the passive flow at spot is a small sell all day, and the supportive gold only starts once the tape has cleared 7675 and 7680. The $32.10 straddle puts the second tests, 7695 and 7635, right on the edges of the priced range. And the morning meeting's caveat stands: profiles like this tend to resolve one way, but with the jobs number the next morning the decisive move may wait.
Nothing in the first 90 minutes: overnight the tape already traded through 7675 and 7665 and back, and the morning will do it again. After London close, once a test gets rejected, a fly with the short strike on whichever balance is in force makes sense: reject 7665 and the middle is 7660 with the wings around 7645 and 7675; cross 7665 and reject 7695 and the middle is 7675, which is the strong one and the one charm helps from above; reject 7645 and the middle is 7660 again; cross 7645 and 7635 and the middle is 7625, with the charm drift helping from above. If we get above 7695 and hold there late, the gamma pocket and the charm pocket both turn against a fade, so you stand aside until 7700 either holds or goes. This is how we think about it, not a recommendation to put it on.
The free 7-day trial opens the same dashboard this page came out of, so Positions by Strike and Expiry, the Gradient Chart on every greek and the flows behind them. Come to today's 2:00 PM ET session and we'll go through today's range together and take your questions.
Start the free 7-day trial Read the Annotated Guide (free)Data via Cboe, VS3D/VolSignals · Modeling via VS3D/VolSignals · Today's section: dashboard captures Oct 8, 2026 8:20 AM ET, tooltips read on the 9:30 AM column; September 3 sections: dashboard captures Sep 3, 2026 6:40 AM ET; tooltips read on the 9:00 AM column; levels from the VolSignals morning meeting. VolSignals is not a registered investment adviser or broker-dealer.