How to read FlowDesk
Plain English for every page. Short version: FlowDesk reads Schwab's options market to estimate where dealers are positioned (magnets, walls and accelerators), which options are being bought or sold, and how far each stock is priced to move this week. Data screen, not advice.
YOUR CORE STRATEGY
- Thursday → Friday morning calls
- Buy 3–10% out-of-the-money Friday calls Thursday around 3:50 PM for $0.20–$1.20; sell Friday in the first 10–30 minutes. Your 2026 trades say this, overnight 1–2 day calls, is where your edge is. Friday entries, 0DTE, multi-day lotto holds and averaging down are where money leaked.
KING NODE SCANNER
- King
- The strike with the biggest gamma across all expirations. It tends to pull price toward it.
- Distance / vs EM
- How far the King is from the price, and that distance compared with today's expected move (1.0× = right at the edge of the day's priced move).
- Gamma regime
- Negative γ (price below the gamma flip): dealers chase moves, so moves run bigger. Positive γ: dealers lean against moves, so trading is calmer and pinned.
- King strength / Pull score
- Strength = how much the King stands out from the next strike plus its share of all gamma. Pull (0–100) = strength plus whether the King is a realistic day's move away (0.5–2× EM), trimmed in positive gamma. A ranking, not a prediction.
- FD chip
- FlowDesk's Friday-confidence score and where the stock sits in its weekly straddle band.
- Scan times
- 9:35, 10:35, 11:35, 12:35, 1:35, 2:35 and 3:50 PM ET; "Live" refreshes every 5 minutes. Tap a card for walls, zero γ, expected moves and the gamma ladder.
QUAD VIEW
- Four ladders side by side
- SPY, QQQ, IWM and one stock you choose (each panel's dropdown changes it). Each row is a strike near the price with its total exposure. The white pill is the price; ★ is the King.
- Colors
- Purple = most negative, teal = small, yellow = most positive.
- All exp / This week / 0DTE
- Which expirations are added up: everything, through this Friday, or only the nearest expiration.
CHARTS
- Candles + levels
- 5m/15m/30m (last two sessions) or daily/weekly candles, with the call wall (cyan), put wall (pink), zero γ (grey dashed), King (gold) and the daily/weekly/monthly expected-move bounds.
- Gamma dots
- Every 5 minutes the biggest positive (yellow) and negative (purple) gamma strike is recorded; bands of dots show where gamma sat all day.
- Today's level changes
- Price crossing zero γ, or a wall moving to a new strike. These also land in the FlowDesk bell (they never buzz your phone).
STRADDLE MAP
- Weekly / monthly move
- The at-the-money straddle from last Friday's close: how far options priced each stock to move this week / to the monthly expiration.
- ±1× / 1.5× / 2× bands (skew-adjusted)
- Where a stock sits versus that priced move. Our 20-year study: a Monday/Tuesday −1× flush alone has no real edge in bull markets, and in the midterm Sep → Election window flushes tended to keep falling. Needs confirmation (put selling, a reclaim of the band).
- Friday-confidence score
- 0–100 from room left, history, flow, trend, catalysts and option pricing: how set up a name looks for a Friday-morning pop.
THURSDESK
- Thursday 3:45 / 3:50 PM picks
- Top 3 names by score that pass the gates, each with the best 3–10% OTM Friday call priced $0.20–$1.20, a size from $100–$500, and a ticket line to paste into thinkorswim. The 3:50 run goes to your phone. Friday 9:20–10:30 it watches your Schwab positions (view-only) and alerts at 3×, 5×, 10× or a 30% fade.
PLAYBOOK
- Only replicable setups get a ticket
- Setups are graded A (proven) to F (loses money, blocked) from our own studies. "Plan this trade" checks your caps ($500/trade, $1,500/day, $2,500/week, 30-min cooldown after a loss). The journal reads your Schwab fills and scores on-plan vs off-plan. FlowDesk never places orders.
FLOW
- Bought / sold / mid
- Each print is classed by where it traded vs the bid/ask. "New" (volume above open interest) means fresh positions. Selling calls into strength or buying puts into weakness are hedges and profit-taking, not new bets.
GEX · VEX · DEX · CHARM
- GEX (gamma)
- How much dealers must hedge per 1% move. Positive calms and pins; negative makes swings bigger. Big strikes act as support, resistance and magnets.
- VEX (vanna)
- How hedging changes when implied volatility moves 1 point. A volatility crush after an event can force dealer buying; a spike the reverse.
- DEX (delta)
- Share-equivalent dollar delta at each strike: where directional positioning lives.
- Charm
- How delta changes per day just from time passing. Matters most near expiration and late in the day, when hedges unwind.
USE IT LIKE AN APP
- iPhone
- Open the site in Safari → Share → "Add to Home Screen". It opens full-screen with the FlowDesk icon.
- Private pages
- ThursDesk positions, PlayBook and alerts only answer on this PC or your Tailscale devices. The public site shows market data only.