The Field Manual

Learn to read the structure.

Every day, options dealers hold positions they're forced to hedge — and that hedging pushes and pulls on price at specific levels. Fantom maps those levels live and gives each one a name. This guide explains what every node means and how to run a session with the dashboard. No math degree required.

⌖ Explore the nodes in 3D Glossary Reading the dashboard A typical session
Interactive

The structure, in three dimensions.

This is the board Fantom watches: a stack of levels around the live price. Click a node — in the scene or the list — to fly to it. Drag to rotate, scroll on the canvas to zoom.

Node Explorer DRAG TO ROTATE · CLICK A GATE · SCROLL TO ZOOM
3D view unavailable on this device —
the full glossary below covers every node.
THE BOARD

The Structure

A day's board, stacked top to bottom: the Call Wall ceiling, magnets like the King and Phantom near price, the GEX Flip pivot, and the Put Wall floor. The gold sphere is spot — the live price moving through the structure.

Start here: click the King.
The Nodes

Every level, in plain English.

You don't need to know how the sausage is made. You need to know what each level does to price when it gets there. That's what this list is.

★ KING

King Node

The heaviest concentration of dealer positioning on the board — the day's center of gravity. When nothing else is in the way, price drifts toward the King, especially into the close.

Read it as: the magnet. Fade moves away from it late in the day with extra caution.
GATE

Gatekeeper

The King's lieutenant — the next-heaviest level standing between price and the King. First touches are often defended; a clean break through the Gate frequently travels the rest of the way to the King quickly.

Read it as: the checkpoint. Reaction here tells you if the King visit is on.
PHANTOM

Phantom

The hidden magnet — a level carrying outsized pull that most retail feeds never surface. When price drifts somewhere "for no reason," it's usually a reason you couldn't see. This one.

Read it as: the invisible hand. Respect it like the King.
GEX FLIP

GEX Flip — the Line in the Sand

The single most important context switch on the board. Above it, dealer hedging leans against moves — dips get bought, rips get sold, the tape pins. Below it, the same hedging flips and amplifies moves — trends run and reversals snowball.

Read it as: the regime switch. Above = mean-revert day. Below = trend day. The banner at the top of the dashboard reads off this.
HVL

HVL — High Volatility Level

The hinge where the day's character tends to change. Holding above it favors compression and orderly rotation; losing it favors expansion and bigger swings. Often the first meaningful reaction level inside the Flip.

Read it as: the volatility hinge. Which side you're on sets your expectations for range.
C.WALL

Call Wall

The ceiling — the strike where dealers most aggressively sell into strength. Rallies stall, stick, or grind here. It can move intraday, but while it holds it caps the board.

Read it as: the lid. A common upside target and a poor place to chase longs.
P.WALL

Put Wall

The floor — dealers buy weakness into it and dip-buyers make their stand. Breaks below the Put Wall matter: the floor stops being a floor and starts being a trapdoor.

Read it as: the last line of defense. Below it, downside accelerates.
AURA

Aura Nodes

Supportive clusters — strikes radiating stabilizing dealer flow. Price tends to slow down, find footing, and chop constructively inside an Aura zone rather than slice through it.

Read it as: cushioned ground. Expect absorption, not acceleration.
GRIM

Grim Nodes

Accelerant strikes — pockets where hedging adds fuel instead of friction. Moves that reach a Grim level tend to speed up through it, not slow down. The Reaper doesn't negotiate.

Read it as: thin ice. Don't expect support where the board says acceleration.
The Dashboard

Four panels. One read.

Everything on the screen answers one question: where is price being pushed, and how hard? Here's how each panel contributes.

01 · Regime banner

Your one-sentence briefing.

The line across the top tells you the current regime in plain words — which side of the Flip price is on, how far away it is, and what that means for the tape's behavior.

  • Above the Flip: pinning, fading, mean-reversion.
  • Below the Flip: trending mode — moves carry.
  • VEX, Flip, King and bull-flow stats ride alongside.
Current Regime · SPXLIVE
Trending below 156pts the 7,423 flip
VEX+18621.18B
GEX FLIP7,423
KING7,325
The banner re-writes itself as structure shifts during the day.
02 · Key Levels

The board, ranked.

The left panel lists every named node with its live price — Phantom, King, Gate, Flip, HVL, the Walls, plus the Aura and Grim strike lists. This is your pre-market map.

  • Levels re-rank live as positioning shifts.
  • The TRENDING block translates structure into the current pull on price.
Key Levels · SPX0DTE
◈ Phantom7,325
★ King7,325
Gate7,335
GEX Flip7,422.7
HVL7,300
C.Wall7,500
P.Wall7,275
AURA 8,000 | 7,500 | 7,450 · GRIM 7,000 | 7,400 | 7,300
03 · The Ladder

Strike by strike, with odds.

The right panel walks 30 strikes above and below spot. Each row shows the dealer positioning at that strike, P(touch) — the engine's probability that the strike trades at least once before the close, refit every evening — and live badges as flow and positioning shift.

  • 🎯 HOT n% — high-odds strikes: the engine considers a touch very likely before the close. Longshots print COLD; everything between shows the bare percentage.
  • 🔥 $25.7M BULL / BEAR — scanner-grade size just hit this strike; the badge pins the premium and direction to the row while it's fresh.
  • 🛡 HEDGE vs 🎯 DIR — what that flow likely was: mechanical protection, or directional conviction. Size with DIR at a mapped level is the strongest tell on the board.
  • ▲ HOT / ▼ FADING / ✕ AVOID — velocity states next to the strike: positioning building fast, draining, or collapsing. Note the two HOTs are different: green 🎯 HOT is touch odds, ▲ HOT is positioning velocity.
  • MAGNET / ACCEL — structural roles: rows that pull price toward them vs rows that speed it up when reached.
Ladder · 30 ± spotP(touch)
7,300MAGNET22%
7,290🔥 $32.6M BULL🛡 HEDGE🎯 HOT 98%
7,275★ KING🎯 HOT 81%
7,267SPOT
7,255🔥 $27.1M BEAR🎯 DIR48%
7,220ACCELCOLD 8%
Odds reset each session · flow badges fade as prints age out.
04 · GEX Calendar

Today is one column. See ten.

The calendar pop-out spreads the structure across the next ten expiries — strike by strike. Gold ★ cells mark each expiry's dominant strike; node chips ride the ladder on the left, exactly like the Discord posts.

  • Spot which levels persist across expiries (structural) vs today-only (tactical).
  • The same calendar posts to Discord automatically through the session.
SPX · GEX Calendar10 EXPIRIES
CW7,500
KING7,325
GATE7,335
7,267SPOT
PW7,275
Open it from the Ladder header → CALENDAR.
The Playbook

A typical session, start to finish.

Structure isn't a signal to blindly follow — it's the context every other decision sits inside. Here's the rhythm most members settle into.

01

Pre-market — draw the map

Open Key Levels. Note the King, both Walls, and which side of the Flip price sits on. That one fact — above or below — sets your bias between fading and following.

02

The open — watch the first touch

The first test of a nearby node tells you who's in control. Defended Gate? The magnet trade is on. Sliced Grim level? Expect follow-through, not bounce.

03

Midday — flow confirms structure

Size hitting a level you already have mapped is conviction; size in empty space is noise. The flow strip and Discord alerts tag prints to the node they hit.

04

The close — respect the King

Gravity strengthens late. Check the expected-close panel and the King's pull — afternoon drifts toward heavy structure are the board's oldest habit.

Trade with the map in front of you.

Fantom membership includes the live dashboard, the ladder with touch odds, the GEX calendar, flow alerts in Discord, and the TradingView indicator suite.

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