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What You’ll Learn

How to use the two Options Chain panels in Hermes — the Chain Table and the Chain Charts — and when each view is the right tool.

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Chain Table

The Chain Table is the spreadsheet view of the live option chain. It keeps calls, strikes, and puts aligned in one row so you can scan pricing and positioning quickly. Layout:
  • Calls on the left
  • Strike in the center column
  • Puts on the right
  • Each row updates from live quote and stream data
Use the table when you want to:
  • Compare bid / ask across many strikes at once
  • See which strikes are the most active right now
  • Spot pricing skews between calls and puts at the same strike
  • Pick a contract before drilling into a chart
It is the fastest way to answer “what is the market paying up for in this expiry?”

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Chain Charts

The Chain Charts panel turns a slice of the chain into a small-multiples grid. Each mini chart is one strike near the money, and they all share the same time axis. You can choose what fills the grid:
  • Calls only — useful when you have a directional bullish thesis
  • Puts only — useful for directional bearish or hedging context
  • Both — calls and puts at each strike side by side, so you can compare reaction speed across the chain
Because the time axis is shared, pan or zoom one chart and the rest follow. Fast option moves never happen evenly across the chain — near-ATM contracts usually react first, while farther OTM contracts can lag or over-expand. The grid makes that visible at a glance.
Chain Charts is best for a tight band around the money. Reach too far out and the contracts get noisy and the grid loses its comparison value.

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Filters And Settings

Both panels share core settings via the Settings popover on the panel: Defaults open the panel near the money on the nearest expiry, which is usually what you want for 0DTE work.

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How To Read It

A typical workflow uses both panels together:
  1. Start in the Chain Table. Scan calls and puts across strikes. Look for unusual pricing, wide spreads, or strikes where size is concentrated.
  2. Move to Chain Charts for the strikes that look interesting. Compare how neighbors are responding — is the next strike up confirming the move, or is it lagging?
  3. Watch the trend within each mini chart. A strike that respects its own trend on pullbacks is usually a cleaner contract than one that whips around.
  4. Drill in. Once a contract earns your attention, open it as an Option Contract Chart for full-detail candles.
Mini charts are fast reads, not entry tools. Confirm with a full contract chart and live quotes before sending an order.
What to watch for across the grid:
  • One side of the chain trending cleanly while the other chops — the market has a directional lean
  • All strikes flattening together — chop or post-move digestion; skip the trade
  • Near-ATM contracts expanding while OTM stays flat — a real move is forming, not yet extended
  • OTM contracts spiking while ATM is flat — late chasing, often the worst entry