Display option levels in futures price coordinates

Use a price basis to compare coordinates

Eligible option and exposure tools can display underlying prices in a related futures coordinate system. This is useful when you watch a futures chart while studying underlying strike levels, but it changes only the displayed price coordinates. SPX, SPXW and SPY-family views can offer ES or MES; NDX, NDXP and QQQ-family views can offer NQ or MNQ. Original remains the source-coordinate choice. The underlying option contracts, monetary exposures, premium, volatility, volume and open interest keep their original meaning after the axis label changes.

Choose and verify the mapping

The price-basis control appears on eligible price-axis widgets. A tool without a suitable price axis or compatible source will not acquire a mapping simply because another widget uses one.

1. Open the eligible widget's price-basis control.
2. Choose one of the offered compatible futures products, such as ES or MES for an SPX-family source.
3. Read the heading and price-axis name to confirm the displayed target.
4. Inspect a level or tooltip and compare the converted price with the retained source meaning.
5. Choose Original when you want to return to underlying coordinates, then verify linked compatible widgets also return as intended.

Understand additive and ratio conversions

Index coordinates use a matched additive basis: the target futures reference minus the index reference is added to the source price. ETF coordinates use a matched ratio: the futures reference divided by the ETF reference scales the source price. The references belong to the selected date or minute and the exact target contract. A live futures quote from another time cannot substitute for a missing historical reference. These relationships explain why projecting SPY onto ES coordinates is not the same arithmetic as projecting SPX, even though both relate to the S&P 500 family.

Read projected prices and untouched values separately

Projected ES, MES, NQ and MNQ readouts round to the native quarter-point display and show two decimals. That rule applies to axes, levels, ranges and relevant tooltips. The internal source coordinates and inverse selections retain the precision needed to request the correct canonical data. A GEX amount beside the projected level is still the original monetary sensitivity, not contracts of ES. An exact option retains its real expiration, strike and right. Treat the transformed price as a shared visual coordinate for comparison rather than a transformation of every number in the widget.

Know how link groups share the choice

Compatible widgets assigned to the same A–H link group share the group's price-basis choice. Unlinked widgets retain their independent setting. A saved Original selection intentionally overrides stale local mappings, and moving the group to an incompatible symbol clears an incompatible basis. When only one panel changes, inspect its actual link assignment and tool support before repeatedly toggling the basis. This behavior lets a workspace keep one group in source coordinates and another in futures coordinates, provided you make the difference explicit in its labels.

Distinguish this feature from OHLC level overlays

OHLC multi-Greek and named-level overlays can use their own fixed completed-session reference when projecting source concentrations onto an exact futures chart. That overlay workflow is distinct from the general widget price-basis selection. An off-cash implied SPX or NDX estimate is another separate calculation using a cash-close anchor and observed micro-futures movement. Two displays can therefore involve futures references without sharing the same method or reference clock. Compare their stated provenance before expecting their plotted levels to match exactly. Neither method turns an option-premium axis into an underlying-price axis.

Troubleshoot missing or surprising projected levels

Verify the source family, selected target, exact contract and historical time. Inspect the mapping's availability message rather than replacing a missing reference with today's quote. Check whether another linked widget changed the group selection or whether a new incompatible underlying cleared it. If projected filters seem restrictive, return to Original and review the canonical strike range before choosing the mapping again. For support, include the source symbol, target product, selected date or minute and a tooltip showing both the projected price and any retained reference explanation.