# Pressure Map

A strike by expiry grid counting how many of the book's strongest readings point at each cell, to find where positioning concentrates.

**Pressure Map** asks one question of every expiry: which strikes stand out?
For each expiry it looks for the strongest readings in the book (the largest
exposure of each greek on either side, the most positive and most negative
dealer gamma, the largest volatility greeks, and the heaviest call and put
buying and selling) and adds one to the cell of the strike each points at. The
first column, **CHAIN**, counts the strikes with the most open interest,
volume and premium across all expiries. The brighter the cell, the more
readings agree on it.

In **Details** choose the greeks (Core 4, Six or All 12), the weighting (OI,
volume or both), the expiry type and range, how many strikes to show, and which
groups of signals to count. Details also lists the **busiest** cells.

## Practical application

![Pressure Map widget, illustrative example: 27,250 lit in every expiry, 26,600 from four days out](https://q-bitf.com/docs-img/pressure-map.png "Illustrative example data, not a real session. NQ, 60 strikes by 10 expiries: CHAIN peaks at 27,075 (17); 27,250 scores 10 in CHAIN, 9 in today's expiry and 7 tomorrow; 26,600 scores 3 to 6 from four days out.")

**Reading it.** One row runs across the whole map: **27,250**, with 9 signals
in today's expiry, 7 tomorrow and 4 to 6 in every later one. **26,600** is
dark for the first two expiries, then lights up from four days out: 3 there,
then 4 to 6 in each later expiry. The CHAIN column is brightest at **27,075 (17)**, the
strike at the money, where today's volume and premium concentrate; 27,250
follows with 10.

**What it means.** 27,250 is the level the whole book agrees on, from today
to three months out. 26,600 matters for next week's and later expiries but not
for today's, so it is a level for swing trades more than for this session.

**How to use it.**

- **A row lit across many expiries:** a level that is likely to matter for
  days or weeks; plan around it.
- **A cell lit only in the nearest expiry:** a level for today; it fades once
  that expiry is gone.
- **Turn signal groups off** in Details to see what drives a cell: dealer
  exposure, volatility, or the day's buying and selling.
- Compare with [Greek Heatmap](https://q-bitf.com/docs/widgets/greek-heatmap) to see the size
  behind each cell, not just how many readings point at it.