There are five ways people trade here. Pick the one that sounds like you.

Options Flow

See what smart money is doing before the move happens. Every sweep, block, and golden sweep scored in real time.

• Unusual Activity — See the options trades that actually mean something, not just the biggest-looking prints. 85+ is significant, 95+ is institutional-grade. (Scored on volume-to-OI, premium size, and bid-ask execution.) Open Unusual Activity
• Live Flow — The raw tape as it prints. Filter by premium, score, DTE, and trade type to watch flow build on a single name in real time. Open Live Flow
• Heat Map — A visual grid of where premium is concentrating across the market right now, so rotation and crowding jump out at a glance. Open Heat Map
• Sector Flow — See which sectors smart money is rotating into and out of, then Rotation Plays runs every scanner on the site against those sectors and ranks the setups where several agree, so you're early to the theme instead of chasing it. Open Sector Flow
• Earnings Flow — Pre-earnings institutional positioning and post-earnings follow-through, so you see how the smart money is playing the print. Open Earnings Flow
• Dark Pool — Off-exchange block prints reported to FINRA across the 50 most liquid tracked names, with a net accumulation or distribution lean inferred from price against the prior session's close. The lean is a months-long positioning read, not a trade direction. Open Dark Pool
• Options Profit Calculator — Build any multi-leg options strategy on a real ticker and see the payoff chart, breakevens, max profit and loss, Greeks and chance of profit before you place the trade. Free, no account needed. Open Options Profit Calculator

Signal Scanners

Daily, signal-based scanners that surface fresh setups the moment the technicals line up.

• Breaking Out — Momentum — Catch a stock breaking out while it's happening, not after the move's already priced in. Refreshed through the session. (Volume-confirmed breakout with a momentum score.) Open Breaking Out — Momentum
• Breaking Out — Triangle — Consolidation triangles resolving into a breakout, annotated with the breakout-bar volume so you can size conviction. Open Breaking Out — Triangle
• Reversal Finder — Oversold names showing the first signs of a bounce, ranked so the best mean-reversion setups float to the top. Open Reversal Finder
• Gap Continuation Scanner — Any $2B+ name that gapped and held through the opening range, confirmed by dealer positioning, options flow, and sector flow. Earnings-driven gaps are tagged separately. Open Gap Continuation Scanner
• Day Trading Watch List — The morning gap scan: small-cap names that clear the gap, price, float and premarket-volume filters, each showing whether there is news and which pillars it passed. Free for everyone. Open Day Trading Watch List
• Tape Confirmed — The names where a chart setup and the live options tape agree right now — always on, no picking required. Open Tape Confirmed

Options Screeners

Rules-based screeners that find trades matching a specific style: from daily conviction cuts to leveraged-ETF and long-dated setups.

• Long Term Buy Zone Scanner — Long-term buy zones on quality businesses: where to add, how much (Z1 25%, Z2 35%, Z3 40% of your position) and whether the business still holds up. Open Long Term Buy Zone Scanner
• 2x Leveraged ETF — Amplified index setups on the liquid 2x ETFs. Catch the market's move without betting the trade on one company's headline. Open 2x Leveraged ETF
• Momentum Pullback — Strong trends taking a healthy breather: buy-the-dip candidates inside an intact uptrend. Open Momentum Pullback
• Cash-Secured Puts — Puts you would be happy to be assigned on, ranked by weekly return on capital with probability of profit and breakeven precalculated. Open Cash-Secured Puts
• Covered Calls — Calls worth selling against shares you already own — the exit leg of the Wheel, ranked by premium richness, the annualized return the premium alone pays, and a calm technical setup. Open Covered Calls
• LEAPS Scanner — Long-dated calls and puts that let you own the thesis for pennies on the dollar: conviction bets with months to be right, not days. Open LEAPS Scanner

Research

Analyze or model any single name in depth.

• Ticker Search — One search box into a full dossier on any name: flow, technicals, levels, news, smart-money context, FINRA short interest, and a gamma-pocket flag when dealer gamma diverges from the market regime — all in a single view. Open Ticker Search
• Ticker Lab — Price any multi-leg options structure off the live chain with a forward-time payoff, a date-by-price P&L heat matrix, and an AI strategy ranker. Open Ticker Lab
• Position Doctor — You own the shares and the stock is down. The Doctor prices a protective put, covered calls, a collar and a 1×2 repair ratio off the live chain and measures each one by the price at which you are back to even against what you actually paid — and says plainly when buying a put would only lock in the loss. Open Position Doctor
• Hedge Shopper — Shop downside protection for shares you are up on: protective put, collar, put-spread collar and bear put spread, priced off the live chain, sized to the expected move, with anything that costs more than the loss it removes dropped and the rest ranked by cost per dollar protected. Open Hedge Shopper
• Long Term — The investing lens for names you hold, not trade: fundamentals, valuation, and trend context so you know a position is still worth keeping. Open Long Term
• Liquidity Map — Where the open interest and liquidity actually sit on a chain, mapped so you can see the walls that shape the underlying, plus which strikes have been adding or shedding open interest over the last 1, 5 or 20 sessions. Open Liquidity Map

Smart Tools

Personal utilities and trackers: watchlists, journal, and income tooling.

• My Watchlist — Your names, enriched with live flow, technicals, and alerts, plus a pre-market price line so you're ready at the open. Open My Watchlist
• My Alerts — Save any filter set and get DM'd the moment flow matches it — your own criteria, watched continuously, no manual refreshing. Open My Alerts
• Trade Journal — Log every trade with your thesis and outcome, deep-linked straight from the alerts that inspired them, and review what's actually working. Open Trade Journal
• My Portfolio — Your open book priced live: equity curve, allocation, per-position risk, and a dividend tracker that shows what your held payers pay you and whether they're cheap against their own yield history. Open My Portfolio
• Wheel Tracker — Run the wheel end-to-end: cash-secured put suggestions, assignment tracking, and covered-call income all in one place. Open Wheel Tracker
• IPO Scanner — Every upcoming and just-listed IPO with the detail to judge the debut, so you're ready before the ticker's optionable and everyone's watching. Open IPO Scanner

Markets & Smart Money

Market structure, dealer positioning, and who's really moving the tape.

• Market Health — A top-down read on breadth, risk appetite, and the overall tape, so you trade in the direction the market is actually leaning. Open Market Health
• Futures GEX Calculator — Real-time dealer gamma for SPX, ES, NQ, SPY, QQQ, gold (GLD and GC), crude (USO) and VIX: track the flip level, gamma walls, and the key support and resistance dealers are defending. Open Futures GEX Calculator
• Politician Trades — Stock trades disclosed by members of Congress under the STOCK Act: track what lawmakers are buying and selling. Open Politician Trades
• CBOE Options Scanner — Newly-listed options on the CBOE, so you catch fresh optionable names the moment they become tradeable. Open CBOE Options Scanner
• Apex Magnet Scanner — Tickers trading within your chosen radius of their dominant gamma magnet level, sorted closest-first, or scan the whole market for fresh setups — the names dealer hedging is most likely to pin or accelerate right now. Open Apex Magnet Scanner
• News Wire — One stream from Benzinga, Nasdaq trading halts, SEC filings, Federal Reserve releases and CNBC — filterable by feed, sector, catalyst and window, tagged when a story names a ticker on today's day-trading scan, and pinned to your watchlist and open positions. Free for everyone. Open News Wire
• World Map — A filterable Wire of war & defense, geopolitics, trade & sanctions, central-bank and energy headlines — Benzinga plus official Fed, USTR, EIA and OFAC releases — beside a map of chokepoints, mines, power plants, chip fabs, refineries/LNG terminals, ports, ship traffic and natural hazards. Click a headline's place to fly the map there; click a linked site to see which stocks it moves and their live quotes (Premium). Open World Map

Calendars & Intel

The time-based events and institutional context that move your names.

• Earnings Calendar — Who reports and when, with the confirmations you need to plan around the volatility. Open Earnings Calendar
• Dividend Calendar — Ex-dates, pay-dates, and yields in one view: time your income and dividend-capture trades without landing on the wrong side of an ex-date. Open Dividend Calendar
• Economic Calendar — The week's macro prints and Fed speakers with impact badges, so a CPI or NFP release never blindsides your trade. Open Economic Calendar
• Insider Activity — Form 4 insider buys and sells: see when the people who know the company best are putting their own money to work. Open Insider Activity
• Hedge Fund Tracker — See what the biggest funds actually bought and sold last quarter. Follow the smart money into positions before the crowd notices. Open Hedge Fund Tracker

AI & Automation

An assistant that knows your positions, alerts that come to you, and an API that plugs the whole platform into your own tools.

• Arya, your AI assistant — An in-app assistant that knows your watchlist and positions. Ask for a read on any name, a strategy idea, or what your flow is saying, in plain English. She offers a read on whatever page you're on. Open Arya, your AI assistant
• Discord Alerts — Real-time flow, breakout, and smart-money alerts pushed straight to Discord, plus personalized DMs on the filters you save. Open Discord Alerts
• MCP & API — Connect Claude, Cursor, or Claude's web Connectors to TraderMatrix, then just ask your assistant for live IV rank, ranked ideas, or a chain edge X-ray. Free accounts get a preview. Open MCP & API
• Flow Bot for your server — Install our bot in your own Discord and route each alert type to its own channel with your own conviction score floor. Eight alert types, twenty-six member slash commands, and a fourteen-day trial. Open Flow Bot for your server

Options Basics

Call (Call Option)

A contract giving the buyer the right to purchase 100 shares at the strike price before expiration. Calls profit when the stock rises. Buying a call is a bullish bet. A call bought above the current price (OTM) needs the stock to rally past the strike by expiration to profit.

Put (Put Option)

A contract giving the buyer the right to sell 100 shares at the strike price before expiration. Puts profit when the stock falls. Buying a put is a bearish bet. A put bought below the current price (OTM) profits when the stock drops below the strike.

ATM (At-the-Money (ATM))

When the option's strike price equals (or is very close to) the current stock price. ATM options have the highest time value and are often the most liquid. They carry roughly 50-delta — meaning about a 50% chance of expiring in-the-money.

ITM (In-the-Money (ITM))

A call is ITM when the stock price is above the strike. A put is ITM when the stock price is below the strike. ITM options have intrinsic value. ITM options behave more like the underlying stock (high delta). They're more expensive but less likely to expire worthless.

OTM (Out-of-the-Money (OTM))

A call is OTM when the strike is above the current price. A put is OTM when the strike is below the current price. OTM options have no intrinsic value — only time value. OTM options are cheaper but need a larger move to become profitable. High-premium OTM sweeps in the flow feed often signal directional conviction.

Deep ITM (Deep In-the-Money)

An option so far in-the-money its price moves almost 1:1 with the stock (delta near ±1). Most of what you're paying is intrinsic value, not a bet on direction. A big deep-ITM print is often stock replacement, a hedge, or one leg of a collar — not the same signal as a leveraged OTM sweep. Check the strike against the current price before reading size alone as conviction.

Intrinsic Value

The 'real' value of an option — how far it is in-the-money. A $200 call on a $210 stock has $10 of intrinsic value. Intrinsic value cannot go negative. An OTM option has zero intrinsic value, meaning its entire price is extrinsic (time + volatility premium).

Extrinsic Value

The portion of an option's premium beyond its intrinsic value — what you pay for time and implied volatility. This is what theta erodes each day. Sellers collect extrinsic value and want it to decay to zero by expiration. Buyers need the underlying to move enough to offset the extrinsic they paid.

Premium

The total dollars spent on an options trade — contracts x price x 100. It's the size of the bet. Bigger premium = more conviction (and usually 'smarter' money). We surface trades with large premium because they're the ones institutions actually care about.

Strike (Strike Price)

The price at which an option lets you buy (call) or sell (put) the stock. Compare the strike to the current price: a call far above the stock is a bet it'll rally hard; a put far below is a bet it'll fall hard.

Expiry (Expiration Date)

The date the option contract expires and stops trading. Near-dated expiries are short-term, higher-conviction bets; far-dated ones are slower, longer-horizon positions.

DTE (Days to Expiration)

How many calendar days until the option expires. Low DTE (days) means a fast, urgent bet — time decay is brutal, so someone buying it expects a move *soon*. High DTE means patience.

Volume

How many contracts traded today on this option. When today's volume dwarfs the existing open interest, it usually means brand-new positioning — not someone just closing an old trade.

OI (Open Interest)

The number of contracts currently held open on this strike (not yet closed or expired). Volume far above OI = fresh conviction. Volume below OI = likely position-closing. We flag the ratio so you can tell new bets from exits.

Delta Own (Delta Ownership Change)

The percentage change in shares owned by an insider as a result of their reported trade. A large change means the transaction was significant relative to their existing stake. A small dollar trade by an executive with a tiny ownership change is routine. A large ownership increase, especially at a higher share price, signals real conviction.

Flow & Conviction

Dark Pool

Private exchanges where large institutional trades are executed away from public markets, often to avoid moving the price. Dark pool prints can signal large accumulation or distribution. A dark pool print is a clue that a large player moved size quietly. When it appears alongside unusual options flow in the same ticker, the convergence is worth noting.

Sweep

An order split across multiple exchanges and filled instantly — the buyer wanted in NOW and paid up to get filled. Sweeps signal urgency. Someone willing to chase the price across exchanges usually has a strong, time-sensitive view.

Golden Sweep

Our highest-tier sweep — a large, aggressive, multi-exchange order that clears our strictest size and urgency bar. These are the rarest, highest-conviction prints on the tape. Worth a closer look when one fires on a ticker you follow.

Block (Block Trade)

A single large trade negotiated privately and printed at once — classic institutional footprint. Blocks are often hedged or part of a bigger strategy, so read them alongside the rest of the day's flow rather than in isolation.

Split (Split Trade)

A larger order broken into smaller pieces, often to reduce market impact.

Score (Unusual Score)

Our 0-100+ rating of how unusual a trade is — blending size, volume-vs-open-interest, urgency, and other signals. Higher score = more statistically abnormal (and more interesting). The tiers — Unusual, High Conviction, Institutional, Extreme — group scores into plain labels.

Repeat Hit (Repeat-Flow Conviction)

The same strike getting hit multiple times within about an hour — someone is accumulating one contract on purpose. Repeated buying on a single strike is one of the strongest 'this is real conviction, not noise' signals. EXTREME = 3+ hits, HIGH = 2.

Sentiment (Sentiment (Bullish / Bearish / Neutral))

Which direction a trade is betting. Bought calls / sold puts lean bullish; bought puts / sold calls lean bearish. We weight overall sentiment by premium, so a few huge bullish bets outweigh many tiny bearish ones. A 'Sold put' or 'Sold call' row is someone selling the contract — usually closing a position, sometimes writing a new one — so it is treated as neutral until next-day open interest shows which (✓ Closed or ✓ New short).

Hit Rate

The percentage of historical unusual-activity signals where the underlying stock moved in the same direction as the flow's sentiment by the end of the measured window. A hit rate above 55% over a large sample means the signal type is doing better than a coin flip. Compare hit rates across score tiers to see where the edge is strongest.

Avg Move (Average Underlying Move)

The average percentage change in the stock price in the same direction as the flow's sentiment after the specified number of days. Use this alongside hit rate: a high hit rate with a small avg move may not overcome commissions, while a moderate hit rate with a large avg move can still be profitable.

Composite Score

How many of the 9 technical reversal indicators are firing for a ticker at once. A score of +9/9 means all 9 are aligned in the same direction. Higher scores (7/9 or above) mean multiple independent signals agree, which reduces false positives. Combine with GEX for additional confirmation before entering a trade.

Stacked Premium

The total dollar premium spent across all repeat flow hits on this contract within the lookback window. More stacked premium means larger cumulative bets on the same strike. High stacked premium means institutional traders kept returning to the same bet. It separates real accumulation from a single lucky print.

Signal Window (Signal Window (Earnings))

How many days before an earnings report a flow was captured. EARLY = more than 14 days out. THESIS = 7-14 days out. LATE = 3-7 days out. IMMINENT = 3 days or fewer. Earlier windows give more time for a position to build, but the thesis can change before the report. IMMINENT flows carry the most urgency and the highest risk around the binary event.

Conviction % (Consensus Confidence)

The percentage of flows pointing in the same direction for a given ticker or event. 100% means every detected flow agreed on direction; below 50% means flows were split. Higher conviction means institutional traders are not hedging each other out. Below 50% is a red flag that the flow may be noise rather than a directional bet.

Divergence

A condition where different signals or participants disagree in direction. In ETF tracking, it means at least one provider is buying a ticker while another is selling it. Divergences often resolve in the direction of the larger buyer. Watch for a follow-on print that breaks the tie.

Volatility & Risk

IV Rank

Compares current implied volatility to the stock's 52-week IV range. An IV Rank of 80 means current IV is in the 80th percentile of its yearly range — historically expensive. High IV Rank (above 50) favors selling premium (CSP, covered calls); low IV Rank favors buying options before a catalyst. Use it alongside the flow feed to confirm whether the market is pricing a move.

IV (Implied Volatility)

The market's expectation of how much a stock will move, baked into the option's price. High IV = expensive options (big move expected, e.g. before earnings). Low IV = cheap options. IV usually crashes right after earnings ('IV crush').

GEX (Gamma Exposure)

How much dealers must buy or sell to stay hedged as price moves. It measures volatility pressure, not direction. Positive GEX tends to pin price and dampen moves; negative GEX can accelerate them. The 'gamma flip' level is where that behavior switches.

Moneyness (Moneyness (ITM / ATM / OTM))

Where the strike sits vs the stock price: In-, At-, or Out-of-the-Money. OTM bets are cheaper, higher-risk, higher-reward 'lottery' positioning; ITM bets are more like a leveraged stock position.

Expected Move

The range the options market is pricing in for a stock by a given date — often used around earnings. If a stock moves less than its expected move, premium sellers usually win; more, and buyers win. Great for sizing an earnings play.

VoPR (Volatility Premium Scanner)

Compares a stock's implied volatility with how much it actually moves (the volatility risk premium), then picks and grades A–F the best contract for four trades: covered call, protective put, cash-secured put and long call.

Invalidation (Invalidation Line)

The price where your trade idea is proven wrong — if it trades or closes through this level, the setup has failed and the reason you entered no longer holds. Decide your invalidation before you enter, then size the trade so being wrong there is a loss you can take. It's your pre-planned exit, not a suggestion — most blown accounts come from moving the line instead of honoring it.

Call Wall

A strike where dealers hold large positive gamma from sold calls. Price tends to stall or reverse near this level as dealers sell into rallies to stay hedged. The call wall acts as a near-term ceiling. If price breaks cleanly above it with volume, dealers must buy to re-hedge and can accelerate the move.

Put Wall

A strike where dealers hold large put gamma, acting as a price floor. Dealers buy the underlying when price drops here, which tends to slow the decline. The put wall is a natural support level driven by dealer mechanics. A break below it removes that buying support and can accelerate selling.

Gamma Flip (Gamma Flip Level)

The price level where dealer gamma exposure crosses from positive to negative. Below this level dealers amplify price moves; above it they tend to dampen them. Price trading below the gamma flip means the tape can move faster and further in both directions. Above the flip, dealers act as a dampener and ranges tend to compress.

Long Gamma (Long Gamma (Market Environment))

A market-wide state where dealers are net positive gamma, meaning they buy dips and sell rallies to stay hedged. That hedging works against big moves, so price tends to chop in a range instead of trending. In a Long Gamma tape, pullbacks are more likely to get bought back rather than snowball into a trend. It favors range-bound and premium-selling approaches over chasing breakouts.

Short Gamma (Short Gamma (Market Environment))

A market-wide state where dealers are net negative gamma, meaning they sell into dips and buy into rallies to stay hedged. That hedging adds to big moves, so price can run further and faster than usual. In a Short Gamma tape, a move in either direction is more likely to keep going than to snap back. It is a reason to expect wider swings and to size positions with that in mind.

Action Zone

The price band within about 1 ATR of the 21-day EMA — close enough to the trend's average that a pullback is still considered healthy, not a breakdown. A stock trading in its Action Zone, with the trend still intact, is the pullback entry this method looks for. Further than about 3 ATR from the EMA is stretched (parabolic) territory instead.

RVOL (Relative Volume)

Today's volume as a multiple of the average volume for that ticker. 2.0x means twice the normal daily activity. On premarket screens it means the same thing measured early: premarket volume as a fraction of a normal FULL day, so 0.25x already means a quarter of a whole day has traded before the open. High RVOL alongside unusual flow confirms institutional participation. Low RVOL on a signal means fewer participants are backing the move.

Strategies

ROC (Return on Capital (ROC))

For put selling (CSP/Wheel strategy): the premium collected divided by the capital at risk (strike × 100). A 1% weekly ROC means $1 earned per $100 of collateral held. Use ROC to compare CSP candidates fairly — a $5 premium on a $500-strike put is 1% ROC, same as a $1 premium on a $100-strike put. Our CSP screener ranks by annualized ROC.

CSP (Cash-Secured Put)

Selling a put while holding enough cash to buy the stock if assigned. You collect premium and may get the stock at a discount. The income half of 'the wheel'. You get paid to wait for a price you'd be happy to buy at.

Covered Call

Selling a call against stock you already own to collect premium, capping your upside in exchange for income. The second half of 'the wheel' — once a CSP assigns you shares, you sell calls against them.

The Wheel (The Wheel Strategy)

A repeating income strategy: sell cash-secured puts until assigned shares, then sell covered calls until they're called away — and repeat. Our Wheel Tracker manages this lifecycle for you and tallies the premium collected on each leg.

Theta (Theta (Time Decay))

How much value an option loses each day just from time passing. Theta works against option buyers and for sellers — it's why short-DTE long options need the move to happen quickly.

Delta (Δ) (Delta)

How much an option's price changes for every $1 move in the underlying stock. A delta of 0.50 means the option gains $0.50 when the stock rises $1. Also approximates the probability of expiring in-the-money. Low-delta (OTM) options need big moves; high-delta (ITM) options behave more like stock. Scan for calls with 0.30–0.50 delta if you want a balance of leverage and probability.

Gamma (Γ) (Gamma)

The rate at which delta changes as the stock price moves. High gamma means delta changes rapidly, making the option more sensitive as it nears expiration. Near-expiry ATM options have the highest gamma — small price moves create large delta swings. Gamma risk is why holding short options through earnings or into expiration is dangerous.

Vega

How much an option's price changes with a 1% change in implied volatility. Long options profit when IV rises; short options profit when IV falls. High-vega options are expensive when IV is elevated and cheap when IV is low. Selling options into high IV (earning the vega premium) is the core idea behind the wheel and premium-selling strategies.

Rho (ρ) (Rho)

How much an option's price changes with a 1% change in interest rates. Rho matters most for LEAPS — longer dated options are more sensitive to rate changes. For short-term options (under 60 DTE), rho is rarely the deciding factor.

Quality Score

A 0-100 composite rating blending profitability, revenue growth, valuation, and dividend safety. Higher scores indicate stronger fundamental characteristics. Use quality score to filter out weak names before selling premium or buying LEAPS. A score above 70 means the fundamentals support the stock holding up even if the trade goes against you.

Market Sentiment

Put/Call Ratio

Total put volume divided by call volume. Above 1 leans bearish/hedging; well below 1 leans bullish. Extreme readings are often contrarian — everyone hedged (very high) or everyone greedy (very low) can mark turning points.

Fear & Greed (Fear & Greed Index)

CNN's 0-100 gauge of overall market mood, from Extreme Fear (0) to Extreme Greed (100). A quick top-down read. Compare it to our flow-derived sentiment — when they disagree (e.g. greedy tape but bearish flow), that divergence is itself a signal.

BMO (Before Market Open)

An earnings report or news release published before the regular trading session starts at 9:30 AM ET. BMO reports set the tone for the open. Pre-market gaps from BMO releases often see early volatility before settling into a trend.

AMC (After Market Close)

An earnings report or news release published after the regular trading session ends at 4:00 PM ET. AMC reports drive after-hours moves that can gap the stock at the next open. The initial reaction in extended hours is often exaggerated and partially reverses.

Confluence

Multiple independent signals pointing in the same direction at the same time. Confluence increases conviction because the signals are measuring different things and still agree. A trade with price at a GEX call wall, bearish flow printed that morning, and a deteriorating market health score has three independent signals agreeing. Each one alone is noise; all three together are a higher-probability setup.

Dealer Gamma

Whether options dealers are net long or short gamma against the market. Short gamma forces dealers to buy into rallies and sell into selloffs, amplifying moves. Long gamma means they do the opposite, damping moves. SHORT · ACCELERATING is the riskiest state — expect bigger, faster swings in both directions. LONG · DAMPING usually means calmer, more range-bound trading.

Volatility Structure

Compares the VIX against the S&P 500 itself to catch divergences — implied volatility rising even while the index holds steady, a classic early-warning sign. A WATCH or ALERT here means options traders are quietly pricing in more risk than the price action shows yet. Worth noticing before it shows up in price.

Credit Spreads

The yield gap between high-yield ('junk') bond ETFs like HYG/JNK and safer benchmarks. Widening spreads mean bond investors are demanding more compensation for risk — often stress that shows up in bonds before stocks. Credit stress tends to lead equity stress. A flagged reading here is worth more weight than a single red day in stocks alone.

Breadth (Market Breadth)

Whether the broad market (equal-weight S&P 500) is confirming the cap-weighted SPY, or a handful of mega-caps are propping up the index while most stocks lag. Weak breadth under a rising SPY is a classic late-cycle warning — the rally is narrower than it looks.