Heatseeker

See where dealers are positioned, strike by strike.

Dealers hedge mechanically to stay neutral, and those hedging flows can move price. Heatseeker maps dealer exposure at every strike and every expiration, so you can see where price may stall, bounce or speed up before it gets there.

Heatseeker board for SPX, dealer exposure by strike and expirationHeatseeker board for SPX, dealer exposure by strike and expiration

The problem

Every level on your chart looks the same until price hits it.

  • You draw ten lines and have no idea which one price will actually respect.
  • Price slices through a level you trusted and stalls at one you never marked.
  • By the time you know a level mattered, the move is already over.

With Heatseeker

Know which strikes carry weight before price arrives.

Some strikes carry so much dealer hedging that price tends to stall, bounce or pin there. Others are thin, and price slides through them fast. Heatseeker shows you both on one board, with the biggest node starred, so you can plan around the levels that matter and wait for price action to confirm them.

How it works

Heatseeker, step by step

  1. Pick a ticker and a view

    Type any letter to search, or step through your list with the arrow keys. Choose GEX for today's levels, or VEX for a multi-day view and days when volatility spikes.

    Heatseeker board for SPX, dealer exposure by strike and expirationHeatseeker board for SPX, dealer exposure by strike and expiration

  2. Find the King, the floor and the ceiling

    Rows are strikes, columns are expirations, and each cell is a node. The King is the starred cell. The biggest nodes just below and above price mark the edges of the range.

    Heatseeker GEX board for SPY with the King node starred just above priceHeatseeker GEX board for SPY with the King node starred just above price

  3. Check whether the board is building or melting

    Turn on velocity to see which nodes are growing and which are shrinking, on timeframes from 1 minute to 1 day. For index trades, open Trinity to see whether SPX, SPY and QQQ agree.

    Trinity Mode with SPXW, SPY and QQQ side by sideTrinity Mode with SPXW, SPY and QQQ side by side

  4. Let alerts watch your levels

    Right-click any node to get an alert as price approaches it or taps it, or to track how the node's size changes through the day.

    Right-click menu on the SPY King node with Alert as it approaches, Alert at the tap and Track node sizeRight-click menu on the SPY King node with Alert as it approaches, Alert at the tap and Track node size

Capabilities

What you can do with Heatseeker

  • Read GEX and VEX on one board

    Switch between net gamma exposure for short-term levels and net vanna exposure for a longer view. The King and velocity follow the view you pick.

  • See SPX, SPY and QQQ together

    Trinity Mode puts SPXW, SPY and QQQ side by side, and you can add panels up to six tickers. Your layout stays put after a refresh.

  • Set alerts straight from the board

    Right-click a node to alert on approach or on the tap, with no price to type. Smart Alerts sets approach alerts on the King, Pika and Barney nodes across a whole watchlist in one click.

  • Watch levels build or melt

    Velocity badges show which nodes are growing or shrinking. Movers lists the fastest changes, and the halo marks strikes where several timeframes agree.

  • Replay any past session

    Run the board forward from any date and time to check whether price already reached a level and left, or to review how a session unfolded.

  • Cut the noise

    Set the strike range and expirations you want, hide small strikes, and use Node % to read every value as a share of the King. Seven palettes, with colour-blind safe ones marked.

Every feature

Everything in Heatseeker

40 features · 7 groups

Why traders pay for it

What Heatseeker puts in your hands

What's uniquely in hand

Dealer gamma and vanna exposure at every strike and expiration, updated live, with the King node starred. It is the part of the market a price chart doesn't show.

Time it gives back

The levels that matter sit on one board, velocity shows which are building or melting, and alerts watch them for you.

What it replaces

A chart full of hand-drawn lines, and exposure you would otherwise rebuild from the options chain yourself.

Heatseeker Bot maps in Discord on every plan. The index complex in the web app on Initiate, and 3,500+ tickers on Pro.Market data licensed via NASDAQ, CBOE and OPRA.

Pairs with

Heatseeker with the rest of Skylit

  • Atlas

    Heatseeker nodes appear on the Atlas chart as orbs, so you can read levels against candles. Open a heatmap or Trinity panel beside the chart with a keystroke.

  • Flowseeker

    Flowseeker shows what traders are doing; Heatseeker shows where dealers are positioned. Some traders watch for flow arriving at a large node.

  • Talon

    Ask Talon for levels, Trinity agreement or a setup scan in plain English without leaving the heatmap. It reads the same board you are looking at.

What's new

Recently shipped in Heatseeker

All updates

  1. Your ticker survives a refresh(in the guide, opens docs.skylit.ai in a new tab)

    The ticker you pick now stays in the page address, so a refresh or a shared link opens that same ticker instead of SPXW.

  2. Steadier Trinity ladders(in the guide, opens docs.skylit.ai in a new tab)

    Trinity columns keep their full strike range after you switch tabs, rows stay aligned when the browser is zoomed out, and resizing re-centres the board.

  3. Negative values in Trinity read cleanly(in the guide, opens docs.skylit.ai in a new tab)

    The minus sign on Trinity values matches the digits' width and height again, so you can spot negative nodes at a glance.

FAQ

Questions about Heatseeker

Does the heatmap tell me whether price goes up or down?

No. Heatseeker shows where dealers are positioned; it does not predict direction. A positive node is not bullish and a negative node is not bearish. The sign describes how price tends to move through a level: positive nodes give smoother reactions, negative nodes give faster, wickier moves. Many traders wait for price action to confirm a level.

When do I use GEX and when do I use VEX?

GEX shows short-term dealer positioning. Day traders use it for intraday levels, watching the same-day column on indexes and the nearest expiration on single names. VEX shows positioning that shifts with implied volatility, so traders use it for a view of roughly five days and out, and on days when volatility spikes.

What is the King node?

The biggest node on the board, positive or negative, marked with a star. Skylit's lessons teach it as a level price is often drawn to, especially into the close. That is teaching, not a tested result.

Why does the same strike look different in Trinity and on the single-ticker board?

Trinity has its own colour-scale setting, so the same strike can be shaded differently. The values are the same. Read the number, not the colour.

Is there a flag for delivered versus fresh nodes?

The board does not flag them. Use replay to check whether price already reached a level and left before you rely on it.

Does Heatseeker send trade signals?

No. Heatseeker is context, not a trigger. It shows where dealers are positioned, and the alerts you set fire on levels you choose. It never tells you what to trade.

Heatseeker logo

Stop guessing which levels matter.

See dealer positioning at every strike and expiration, and plan around it before price arrives.

Get AccessRead the Heatseeker guide(opens docs.skylit.ai in a new tab)