Reading the Echo Map

The Echo Map answers one question: where did traders commit, and are they still committed? Four layers stack on one price axis - heatmap in the center, volume profile on the left, gamma force lines on the right, CVD along the bottom. The bias ribbon (thesis bar above the map) summarizes the default regime; treat it as a caption, not an entry button. When flow and the ribbon disagree, CVD wins.

Not financial advice.

Layout at a Glance

Layer	Where	What it tells you
Heatmap	Center grid	Who aggressed when - green = buyers lifting; red = sellers hitting
Volume Profile	Left gutter	Where the market accepted volume - POC and value area
Gamma force lines	Right labels	Dealer magnets - walls, anchor, flip, prior, overnight high/low
CVD	Bottom strip	Running buy vs sell aggression on the same time axis

Read Order

Work top to bottom and outside in before you trade the fusion:

1. Levels (right) - mark POC on the profile, then the nearest gamma lines (Call Wall, Put Wall, Anchor, Flip, Prior, ON High / ON Low).
2. POC (left) - is price inside value, above it, or pressing a wall?
3. Last heatmap columns - do the newest 3-5 columns show initiative green/red climbing toward a labeled level?
4. CVD - does flow confirm or diverge from what price is doing?
5. Bias ribbon (caption) - does the thesis line match the picture? If not, trust CVD over text.

Layer 1: The Pressure Heatmap

Every cell is one price bucket during one time bucket. The color is the net delta of trades in that cell - green when buyers were the aggressors, red when sellers were. Brightness scales with how one-sided the trading was.

How to read it:

• A column of bright green climbing - buyers lifted offers through multiple prices. Initiative buying.
• Bright red cells at the highs - sellers hit bids as price probed higher. Supply is active there.
• Dim, mixed cells - two-way rotation. Nobody in control; treat levels as mean-reversion targets.
• Bright cells that price later revisits - old battlegrounds tend to matter again. Volume memory is the whole premise of the map.

The right edge of the newest column pulses gently - that is the live edge, where the current bar is still forming.

Layer 2: Volume Profile (the left gutter)

The horizontal bars show total volume at each price for the window you are viewing. Each bar is split green/red by aggressor side.

• POC (Point of Control) - the amber bar, the single price with the most volume. It acts as a magnet in balanced conditions.
• Value Area - the dashed band holding roughly the middle 70% of volume. The market's zone of agreement.

The two setups that matter:

1. Acceptance: price moves above the value area and stays there, building new volume. The market has repriced. Pullbacks to the top of the old value area are buyable in that context.
2. Rejection: price pokes above the value area, prints thin volume, and falls back inside. Expect rotation back toward the POC.

Layer 3: Gamma Force Lines (the right rail)

SPX/NDX dealer positioning from Dealer Edge, projected onto the futures price axis via the live index basis. These are the levels dealers defend - the same math as the GEX heatmap, drawn where futures traders can act on it. Gamma appears on equity-index contracts only (ES, NQ, MES, MNQ, RTY, YM).

Level	Role
Call Wall	Resistance above price - dealers sell into strength
Put Wall	Support below price - dealers buy weakness
Anchor	Strongest magnet on the map - pin-day gravity into the close
Gamma Flip (dashed)	Regime boundary - above it dealers dampen moves; below it they amplify
Prior	Prior settle / reference shelf from the previous session
ON High / ON Low	Overnight range extremes - first structural magnets before and after the cash open

On a down day, upside magnets often ladder POC → Call Wall / Anchor → Flip → ON High. On an up day, flip the order for downside targets.

See Gamma on Futures for projection mechanics and a session playbook.

Layer 4: CVD (the strip below)

Cumulative Volume Delta sums buyer-initiated minus seller-initiated volume across the session, on the same time axis as the map. It is the truth-teller for the other layers.

• Price up + CVD up - flow confirms the move. Trend behavior.
• Price making highs + CVD flat or falling - absorption. Someone is selling into the push without price breaking yet. The Echo Map badges this state explicitly ("Absorption - sellers hold highs vs price"). It usually resolves with a rotation back down.
• Price flat + CVD climbing - buyers are accumulating without lifting price. Watch for the break.
• CVD divergence at a gamma level - the highest-quality fade signal on the map. Flow failing exactly where dealers defend is confluence.

IF / THEN Cheat Sheet

Mark POC + nearest wall first. Then check the last 3-5 heatmap columns and CVD.

IF	THEN
Price at a wall and CVD diverges	Fade toward POC
CVD confirms and heatmap green/red is climbing	Run to the next wall on the ladder
Chop inside value	Fade extremes back to POC
Flip breaks with CVD	Stop fading; follow the break

Magnet ladder (up): Put Wall → POC → Call Wall → Flip (reverse for downside).

CVD wins over the bias ribbon when they disagree.

Example: ES Close Pop

One session pattern worth recognizing: sellers own the day, then a sharp pop into the bell runs the magnet ladder to Call Wall / Anchor and stalls.

• Mid-session: Price below POC, red heatmap on rallies, CVD weak or flat - downside regime. Magnets above (POC, Put Wall, Call Wall) are bounce targets if shorts cover.
• Late session: Price lifts from the ON Low area; bright green columns climb on the right edge - initiative buying toward labeled levels.
• Into 16:00: CVD spikes green while price lifts - real closing flow, not just a wick. Without that CVD turn, a green blip into Call Wall is often a fade, not a follow.
• Magnet hit: Price tags Call Wall / Anchor and stalls - move done for now unless tomorrow opens above with CVD still rising.
• Not reached without acceptance: Flip and ON High stay the next ceiling if bulls keep control through the wall.

One-line read: Sellers owned the day; buyers stepped in at the lows; CVD confirmed the close pop; price ran to Call Wall/Anchor and stopped where the map said it would.

The Four Patterns, In Order of Reliability

1. Fade at a wall with divergence - price presses into the Call Wall (or Put Wall), CVD diverges, heatmap shows red cells at the highs. Fade back toward the POC or Anchor.
2. Value-area acceptance - price accepts above value with CVD confirming. Trade pullbacks in the direction of acceptance, targeting the next gamma level.
3. POC magnet rotation - inside the value area on a high-gamma day, fade the edges of value back to the POC. The regime chip in the thesis bar tells you when the day is pin/mean-revert.
4. Flip break - price loses the Gamma Flip with CVD confirming. Character change - stop fading, start following.

Live Feel: Auto Live, Lenses, Share

• Auto Live - when on, the map streams live ticks and refreshes the forming column; when off, overlays freeze so you can study a moment without drift. Toggle from the status bar.
• Session lenses - 24h (overnight + cash on one map), RTH (cash session only). Match the lens to how you trade.
• Chart controls - fit/autoscale the Y axis from the map controls, and a right-click menu with Reset chart view and Copy price.
• Share / copy image - export the current map (layers and levels included) from the toolbar for journals, Discord, or coaching.

For a simpler candle chart with GEX and flow overlays, see Pulse Quick Start.

Interval and Lens Choices

• 1m-5m with the RTH lens for day trading the cash session
• 15m-1H with 24h for swing context and overnight structure
• 1D for the position-trader view of where multi-day volume lives
• 24h lens before the open: the overnight high/low and where value built overnight still render as levels - your first reference levels of the day

Every layer can be toggled off. When learning, run one layer at a time for a week each - heatmap first, then profile, then gamma, then CVD - before trading the fusion.