Intraday Open Interest chart
The Intraday Open Interest chart shows, strike by strike, the Open Interest of the options on the active symbol — that is, the number of open contracts — separating calls from puts. It is the tool for locating the price levels where market interest is most concentrated.
Open Interest by strike: calls in green, puts in red, with the Strike Filter and Chart Settings in the toolbar.
Where it is
Section titled “Where it is”Side menu, Symbol → Intraday Analysis → Open Interest. It refers to the active symbol. Available on the Premium and Ultra plans; it does not support futures contracts.
How to read it
Section titled “How to read it”- Each bar is a strike; its height is the Open Interest on that strike.
- The colour separates calls from puts, so you immediately see where interest concentrates on each side.
- The vertical dashed line marks the current price (spot), which lets you judge which concentrations sit above and which below the market.
- The summary below the chart gives call and put totals and the Put/Call ratio.
Controls
Section titled “Controls”- Strike filter (Moneyness) — limits the view to strikes within a chosen distance from the price, from ± 1% to ± 50%, plus All and a custom range.
- Show Levels — adds the reference levels to the chart, expanding the visible range when a level sits outside the filtered strikes.
- Net Positions — shows the net balance between calls and puts instead of the two separate series.
- Rotate chart — switches the bars between horizontal and vertical orientation.
- Reset Zoom — returns to the full range after zooming.
- Screenshot and Fullscreen — save an image or open the chart full screen.
Your choices are saved as the page layout for that symbol, so the chart comes back configured the way you left it.
Why traders use it
Section titled “Why traders use it”Strikes with high Open Interest tend to act as reference areas: they are the levels where the market holds the largest number of open positions, and where dealer hedging concentrates. Comparing them with the current price is how you locate candidate support and resistance zones that come from positioning rather than from chart geometry.
The Put/Call ratio of Open Interest adds context to that read: a heavy put concentration below the market means something different from a symmetrical profile, even when the largest single bar is the same.
Open Interest or volumes?
Section titled “Open Interest or volumes?”The two charts complete each other:
- Open Interest shows where positions are already open — the accumulated state.
- Volumes show where trading is happening now — today’s flow.
A sudden concentration of volume on a strike often precedes a change in Open Interest over the following days.
Common mistakes
Section titled “Common mistakes”- Reading Open Interest as direction. It says how many contracts are open, not who is long or short.
- Trusting a single large bar on an illiquid name. These profiles are meaningful on liquid instruments; on thin chains one print distorts the picture.
- Filtering too tightly. A ± 1% filter can hide the concentration that actually matters, which is often further out.
- Trying it on a futures contract. The analysis is not available for futures.
Frequently asked questions
What does the intraday Open Interest chart show in Gaudio OTT?
The number of open call and put contracts for each strike of the active symbol, plotted as bars with calls and puts in different colours, a dashed line at the current price, and a summary with call and put totals and the Put/Call ratio.
What is the difference between Open Interest and volume?
Open Interest is the number of contracts currently open, so it describes accumulated positioning. Volume is the number of contracts traded during the session, so it describes activity happening now. A volume spike on a strike often precedes a change in its Open Interest over the following days.
Which plans include the intraday Open Interest chart?
Premium and Ultra. The chart is part of the Intraday feature group, which is not available on the Free or Strategy plans.
Does the intraday Open Interest chart work on futures?
No. The intraday charts do not support futures contracts. Use them on stocks, indices and ETFs with listed options.
What does the Net Positions option do?
It replaces the two separate call and put series with their net balance per strike, which makes the direction of the imbalance easier to read than comparing two bars.
Can high Open Interest strikes act as support and resistance?
They are commonly used that way. Strikes with the largest number of open contracts are the levels where positioning and dealer hedging concentrate, so price often reacts around them. They are reference areas to watch, not signals to trade on their own.
Related pages
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