Hermēs DocumentationDistribution Band
The distribution band is the per-strike cross-section that shares the main chart's price axis — six stackable columns, three display modes, three expiries, an optional standalone IV-smile column and an expected-move band, with level pills extending across the axis into the band.
The distribution band is HuntingFlow's cross-sectional view: the chart reads time horizontally, the band reads what is stacked at each strike. Both share one price axis — a row in the band sits at exactly the height of that price on the chart, so you can read straight across.
Three display modes
In-chart overlay (default)
Bars are drawn to the right of the candles, inside the price frame. The most compact option, and the right one for a single chart or a narrow window.
Component band
The distribution moves into a dedicated full-height band right of the price axis, with its own card background and border, so it no longer covers the candles. The divider between price axis and band is draggable, letting you allocate width as needed; on dual-chart or half-width panels the reserved width is clamped automatically so the plot area can never be squeezed out.
Dual columns
Available in component mode only: two columns side by side inside the band, with the right column choosing its own metric. The classic pairing is Gamma on the left and OI on the right — one glance tells you whether structure and real positioning sit at the same strike.
Six columns, stackable
| Column | Reads | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Vol | Per-strike volume today | Where today's money is hitting |
| OI | Per-strike open interest | The position that has actually accumulated |
| Gamma | Per-strike gamma | Where hedging sensitivity concentrates — the physics behind a "wall" |
| Vanna | Per-strike vanna | Where an IV move would push hedging flow |
| Delta | Per-strike delta | Where directional exposure piles up |
| Charm | Per-strike charm | How much hedging demand time decay will release |
Any combination can be shown at once. With Vol + OI alone selected, the trigger pill summarises them as "Options profile" — the most common pairing.
Bars use a diverging layout (positive right, negative left) and carry "compare" dots for the previous snapshot: the bar is the current stock, the dot is where it was a moment ago, and the gap between them is how fast that strike is changing.
Expiry selection
The band's expiry is independent of the heat trail: 0DTE (expiring today) / next-day (1DTE+) / aggregate (up to 90 days).
That independence is deliberate — overlay an aggregate distribution on a 0DTE heat trail and you can answer directly whether a level was built by today's money or was already there in further-dated structure. Full detail in Basis system.
Standalone IV-smile column
When enabled, per-strike call and put implied volatility is drawn as a two-colour scatter in its own column: price stays on the vertical axis (shared with the chart), and IV maps linearly across the column width — low IV to the left, high IV to the right.
It is a point cloud rather than a fitted curve, because per-strike IV jumps around at illiquid strikes and a connecting line would manufacture a smooth surface that does not exist. Where IV cannot be solved stably from price (deep ITM / OTM contracts), the point is simply not drawn.
The smile column and the distribution bars are different units (volatility vs notional exposure), which is why they live in separate columns and do not share a horizontal scale. Overlaying them produces "crossings" that mean nothing.
Expected-move (EM) band
The EM band is drawn on the main chart itself: centred on spot, with upper and lower edges at the one-standard-deviation move implied by the ATM straddle. When IV is missing or the straddle has no quote after hours it is simply not drawn — nothing is extrapolated.
Because it lives on the chart rather than in the band, it stays visible in every distribution display mode, including the default in-chart one.
Level pills that cross the axis
Level pills no longer stop at the price axis: the pill body extends across the axis into the band, forming one continuous capsule — price centred, name and percentage mirrored on the band side. While you are reading bars, you never have to look back to the left edge to check whether a strike is C1 or COI.
Only levels that are currently visible get a dashed line across the band, one per pill, so there are never orphan lines without a label.
Hover readout
Hovering any row in the band gives that strike's readings — the value of every enabled column plus its change since the previous snapshot. Hit areas cover rows continuously, so you do not have to land precisely on a bar.
A typical workflow
- Component mode with dual columns: Gamma left, OI right — check whether structure and real positioning coincide.
- Switch expiry to 0DTE for today and aggregate for the longer horizon; see whether the dominant peak stays at the same strike.
- Turn on the IV smile column to see whether IV near a wall is suppressed (pinning) or bid up (breakout being priced).
- Turn on the EM band to overlay the day's plausible range on those walls, and judge whether a target is reachable within one session.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the band and the in-chart distribution?
They are three display modes of the same data. "In-chart" stacks the per-strike bars to the right of the candles; "component" moves them into a dedicated full-height band right of the price axis so nothing covers the candles; "dual" places two independently-sourced columns side by side inside that band. All three share the main chart's price axis.
Can I show gamma and open interest at the same time?
Yes. The six columns (Vol / OI / Gamma / Vanna / Delta / Charm) are multi-select and can be stacked in any combination. With only Vol + OI selected, the trigger pill summarises them as "Options profile".
Why isn't the IV smile drawn on top of the distribution bars?
It is now its own column. Per-strike call and put implied volatility is plotted as a two-colour scatter in a dedicated column — price still on the vertical axis, IV mapped across the column width — so it neither hides the bars nor invites reading two different units on one scale.
Indicator Dock
The Indicator Dock is the vertical icon rail on the left of the HuntingFlow chart. It groups every display switch into three clusters — main chart, sub-panes and style — covering structure lines and bases, key levels, the distribution band, the heat panel, DEX overlays, sub-panes and Greeks, bar style and advanced overlays, plus a one-click reset.
Heat Panel
The heat panel is a second dedicated band right of the price axis that can sit alongside the distribution band — "time matrix" shows how exposure migrates across a session, "grid" shows strike × expiry layering, with eight metrics spanning GEX/DEX/VEX/CEX and OI/VOL/PREM/TX.