Chapter 6
BlackOut Thermal
Visual GEX, VEX, DEX, and CHARM surfaces — where dealer hedging pressure concentrates across strikes and expiries.
Overview
Thermal renders the full dealer exposure grid that SPX Slayer summarizes as walls, flip, and King node. Route: `/heatmap`. Default ticker is SPY; switch to SPX or index names via TickerSwitcher.
Two primary views: Matrix (strike × expiry heat table) and Profile + Curve + Shift (ladder bars, cumulative curve, intraday migration). Four lenses: GEX, VEX, DEX, CHARM — each reframes dealer risk.
Overlays tie HELIX flow and dark pool levels onto the profile view. LargoRead provides on-demand AI explanation of the current surface.
Desk layout
Control row at top: ticker search, view tabs (Matrix vs Profile bundle), freshness badge, lens tabs (GEX/VEX/DEX/CHARM).
Matrix view is full-width heat table. Profile view splits 7/5: left exposure ladder + expiry scope; right cumulative curve + shift ladder (GEX/VEX only).
Rail cards below main views: DarkPoolRail, FlowSummary, KeyLevelBox, AlertsStrip, LargoRead — not all visible in every lens.
Panel reference
Every region below maps to a live UI panel on the desk. Read purpose first, then cadence, then how to consume — that order mirrors how you should scan the tool during RTH.
TickerSwitcher & freshness
Top control row
Select underlying and judge data health before interpreting colors.
What it shows
- Preset tickers with search
- Live spot price and session change %
- Live / Quote only / Offline badge
- Fast-move flash when quote vs matrix spot diverges >0.5%
What you can do
- Pick ticker from presets or search
How to consume
Confirm Live before sizing. Quote only means matrix may lag spot — wait for next poll. Fast-move flash triggers force refresh (throttled ≤1 per 8s) — pause until matrix catches spot.
Lens tabs (GEX / VEX / DEX / CHARM)
Control row — right of view tabs
Switch dealer exposure type without refetching — all blocks ship in one payload.
What it shows
- GEX: gamma flip, call/put walls, max pain, King node
- VEX: vanna walls and flip
- DEX: delta-zero pivot and posture (hidden if absent)
- CHARM: charm-zero pivot and pinning (hidden if absent)
What you can do
- Click lens tab — client-side switch
How to consume
Start GEX for direction and wall logic. Switch VEX when IV is moving faster than price. DEX for delta hedging flow intuition. CHARM late-day for pinning into close. Shift view only applies to GEX and VEX.
TipDEX/CHARM tabs auto-hide when not in cache for a ticker.
Matrix view
Main panel — default tab
Strike × expiry heat map with diverging color scale per lens.
What it shows
- Rows per strike, columns per expiry
- Spot row highlight
- Signed exposure values in cells
- MatrixFreshness as-of timestamp
What you can do
- Switch to Profile view for overlays and ladders
How to consume
Scan horizontally for expiry concentration — 0DTE column dominates SPX intraday. Scan vertically for wall strikes. Compare spot row to flip from KeyLevelBox. Use before entries at Slayer-quoted walls.
ExposureProfile + ExpiryScopeBar
Profile view — left column
Strike ladder bars with spot/flip/King-node markers and optional flow/dark pool overlays.
What it shows
- Per-strike exposure bars
- Spot, flip, King node markers
- ExpiryScope chips: All · 0DTE · Near · Monthly · per-expiry
- HELIX Flow overlay markers (net premium by strike)
- Dark Pool horizontal level lines
What you can do
- Toggle HELIX Flow overlay
- Toggle Dark Pool overlay
- Click expiry scope chips to re-sum profile
How to consume
ExpiryScope narrows noise — use 0DTE for Slayer alignment, All for swing context. Enable flow overlay to see where today's prints concentrated vs static GEX. Dark pool lines show off-lit equity levels that may interact with options structure.
TipOverlays default on when data exists; muted FlowSummary when ticker not on overlay allowlist.
CumulativeCurve + ShiftView
Profile view — right column
Cumulative exposure curve and intraday migration (built/melted strikes).
What it shows
- SVG cumulative exposure curve
- Shift ladder: strikes that gained vs lost exposure since open (GEX/VEX)
How to consume
Curve inflection points approximate flip zones. ShiftView answers what changed today — bright built strikes are new concentrations; melted strikes lost dealer interest. Hidden for DEX/CHARM lenses.
KeyLevelBox
Below main views — rail
Consolidated structure tiles: flip, walls, max pain, King node, net total, day-over-day deltas.
What it shows
- Lens-specific level tiles with info tooltips
- DoD deltas where available
How to consume
Copy these levels to your journal — they should match Slayer header scalars for SPX. Mismatch suggests ticker difference or stale poll — check freshness.
AlertsStrip
Rail — below key levels
Positioning event alerts (wall breaks, flip crosses).
What it shows
- Dismissible alert chips for structural events
What you can do
- Dismiss individual alerts
How to consume
Alerts are event markers — read once, then focus back on matrix. For historical flip/spot context, KeyLevelBox's day-over-day deltas cover whether structure moved vs prior sessions.
FlowSummary & DarkPoolRail
Compact rail cards
Today's net call/put premium tilt and dark pool level list for the ticker.
What it shows
- FlowSummary: net premium tilt
- DarkPoolRail: compact DP level list
How to consume
Quick cross-check vs HELIX without leaving Thermal. Flow tilt disagreements with GEX posture warrant caution on directional size.
LargoRead
Bottom rail — on demand
AI narrative explaining the current surface in plain language.
What it shows
- Lazy-loaded explain text after Ask Largo
What you can do
- Ask Largo / Hide
How to consume
Use after you have scanned matrix and key levels — LargoRead synthesizes, does not replace reading the heat. Hide when done to reduce noise. For interactive Q&A, open full Largo terminal.
How it works
Surfaces recompute from live chain during RTH with responsive caching. One API payload carries matrix, overlays, history, and shift blocks; lens and expiry scope are client-side transforms.
Unified payload
Single gex-heatmap fetch powers matrix, profile, overlays, and key levels.
Fast-move guard
Spot divergence >0.5% triggers throttled force refresh.
Overlay allowlist
Some tickers omit flow overlay — FlowSummary shows unavailable copy.
Slayer parity
Same computation family as Slayer walls — Thermal is the full surface.
Step-by-step workflow
Open before sizing at any Slayer-quoted structural level.
- 1
Confirm ticker and freshness
SPX for index 0DTE thesis; check Live badge.
- 2
Matrix scan
Locate spot row, flip zone, and brightest cells.
- 3
Profile + overlays
Enable flow overlay; scope to 0DTE.
- 4
Read KeyLevelBox
Copy flip and walls to cross-check Slayer header.
- 5
Shift check
Note built/melted strikes since open.
- 6
Optional LargoRead
Ask for narrative if structure is ambiguous.
Best practices
Do
- Use before entries at structural levels.
- Switch VEX when vol dominates price.
- Scope expiry to 0DTE for Slayer alignment.
- Dismiss alerts after reading — reduce clutter.
Don't
- Don't stare at static screenshots — levels reprice every 20s.
- Don't ignore Quote only / Offline badges.
- Don't assume overlays exist for every ticker.
Connected tools
BlackOut is one pipeline. These desks share the same GEX, flow, and intelligence layers.
FAQ
Thermal vs Slayer GEX?
Same computation family — Thermal is the full surface; Slayer shows key scalars and left-rail 0DTE matrix.
Why SPY default?
Liquid proxy with rich chain; switch to SPX for index-native levels.
What is Shift view?
Intraday migration of exposure — which strikes gained or lost dealer gamma/vanna since open.
Open BlackOut Thermal
Launch the live BlackOut Thermal desk and apply this chapter in real time.