Premium Map: How to Read the Options Premium Butterfly Chart
- Premium Map shows real dollar value (OI × price × 100) at each strike — not gamma, but actual capital at risk.
- Green bars (right side) = call premium. Red bars (left side) = put premium. Width = dollar amount.
- The widest bars show where the most institutional capital is concentrated — these levels tend to be defended.
- Different from GEX: Premium Map shows MONEY. GEX shows HEDGING OBLIGATION.
What is the Premium Map?
GEX measures hedging obligation — how much dealers need to delta-hedge their positions to remain delta-neutral. That is a mechanically derived number from the options Greeks. The Premium Map measures something different: capital concentration — how much real dollar value is parked at each strike in the form of open interest.
The formula is straightforward: OI × option price × 100 = total dollar value of open interest at that strike. If a strike has 10,000 contracts of open interest and the option is priced at $5.00, there is $5,000,000 in premium sitting at that strike. These are levels where institutions have skin in the game. They paid real money for those positions and have strong financial motivation to defend them through hedging and rolling as expiration approaches.
Available on the Trader plan, the Premium Map adds a dimension that GEX alone cannot capture: where institutional capital is most concentrated, independent of the gamma mechanics.
Reading the Butterfly Chart
The Premium Map uses a butterfly (tornado) layout: strikes are arranged vertically, call premium extends to the right as green bars, and put premium extends to the left as red bars. The width of each bar directly corresponds to the dollar value of premium at that strike for the selected expiration filter.
Widest green bar — highest call premium concentration. This is the strike where the most dollar value is tied up in call open interest. Writers of those calls have the most financial motivation to keep price below this level through expiration — they collected premium for those calls and will hedge aggressively to prevent the calls from expiring in the money.
Widest red bar — highest put premium concentration. The strike where the most dollar value is in put open interest. Put writers are motivated to keep price above this level. This is a premium-driven support level.
OTM strikes with wide bars — large speculative or institutional positioning at a strike away from current spot. This tells you the market is making a directional bet with real capital. A wide green bar 3% OTM means significant premium has been deployed betting on or against a move to that level by expiration.
Premium vs GEX: The Difference
GEX and Premium Map measure related but distinct things. Understanding the difference helps you use both effectively:
GEX is driven by gamma — the second derivative of option value with respect to price. It is most sensitive to near-the-money options and short-dated expirations (where gamma is highest). GEX is a mechanical measure: it tells you how much dealers must buy or sell in the underlying for each $1 move in price.
Premium Map is driven by total dollar value — OI times price. It can be dominated by expensive options even if those options have low gamma. A far-OTM long-dated call with $8.00 of premium and 5,000 OI contributes $4,000,000 to the premium map but relatively little to GEX because its gamma is small. Conversely, a short-dated near-the-money option with $1.50 premium and 20,000 OI contributes $3,000,000 to the premium map but significant GEX.
Use both in combination: GEX tells you about hedging mechanics and intraday dynamics. Premium Map tells you about capital defense levels and where institutions have the most money at stake. They often agree on the same key levels, but when they diverge, the divergence is informative — it suggests one force is dominant at a level but the other is absent.
Identifying Defended Levels
The highest-premium strikes are levels that institutional writers are most financially motivated to defend. The logic of defense is straightforward: if you sold 5,000 calls at $680 for $3.00 each, you collected $1,500,000 in premium. That premium is your maximum profit — only realized if price stays below $680 at expiration. You are highly motivated to keep price below $680 by buying puts, selling futures, or rolling your position as expiration approaches.
This defensive activity creates systematic selling pressure near the high-premium Call Wall and systematic buying pressure near the high-premium Put Wall. It is not random — it is rational financial behavior from large institutional positions. The defense is strongest when: the expiry is nearby (urgency increases), the premium collected was large (more motivation), and the position is at risk of going in-the-money (the defense kicks in hardest).
Using the Expiry Filter
The Premium Map responds to the global DTE filter and also has its own expiry date selector, allowing you to isolate specific expirations to see exactly where capital is concentrated for each timeframe:
0DTE filter: See which strikes have the most 0DTE premium — the strongest intraday pin levels. Options writers with large 0DTE premium will defend their strikes aggressively into the close. These are your highest-conviction intraday structural levels.
OPEX/Monthly filter: See the monthly premium concentration — the structural levels that institutional writers are defending for the entire month, not just today. Monthly premium walls are the most durable because writers have been collecting premium for weeks and will defend aggressively as the monthly expiry approaches.
ALL filter: See the complete capital concentration picture across all expirations — useful for identifying the overall highest-value levels that aggregate all timeframes' premium into a single view. This shows you where the most total institutional capital is at stake regardless of which expiration it belongs to.
Access the Premium Map
See where institutional capital is concentrated at every strike — the dollar-weighted complement to GEX structure analysis.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Premium Map different from OI?
OI counts contracts — the raw number of open options contracts at a strike, treating all contracts equally regardless of their price. The Premium Map weights by dollar value: OI × option price × 100. A high-OI strike with a cheap option ($0.50 per contract) carries far less premium weight than a lower-OI strike with an expensive option ($5.00 per contract). Premium Map reveals capital concentration — where real institutional money is at stake — rather than just contract count, which can be misleading when expensive and cheap options exist at different strikes.
Does high premium always mean a strong wall?
High premium increases the probability of a strong wall but doesn't guarantee it. Writers have financial motivation to defend their strike, but if those positions are speculative buys rather than writes, the defense behavior doesn't apply. The strongest walls combine high GEX (mechanical hedging pressure from dealer delta-hedging) with high premium (capital motivation from writers defending their collected premium). Either alone is worth noting; both together at the same strike is the highest-conviction configuration.
How often does it update?
The Premium Map updates on the same cadence as the main GEX data — every 30 seconds during market hours. As options trade and open interest changes throughout the session, the premium concentration picture shifts accordingly. Major moves in the underlying can significantly change which strikes are near the money and therefore which option prices are highest, shifting the premium distribution across strikes.