The quadrant logic, options edition
Pair the direction of price with the direction of open interest at a strike and four stories emerge: OI up as price rises toward it (fresh positioning into strength), OI up as price falls (hedging or bets accumulating into weakness), OI down with price approaching (unwinds — the level dissolving before contact), OI down after rejection (the trade completing). The same quadrant frame perps use, applied strike by strike.
Why it upgrades the wall read
A wall is a snapshot; OI change is its derivative. A call wall GROWING as spot approaches is being reinforced — overwriters and hedgers still selling there; a wall SHRINKING on approach is being lifted, and the level’s meaning leaves before price arrives. The snapshot alone cannot make that distinction; the delta can.
Expiry pollution, and cleaning it
Daily expiries make raw OI change noisy — every 08:00 UTC removes positions mechanically. The honest read nets out the roll and expiry attrition before crediting any change to fresh opinion; most apparent overnight “unwinds” are just the calendar working.
Reading it
Track OI change at the map’s named levels, cleaned for expiry, and ask of every shift: opening or closing, with or against the tape? Walls that grow on approach deserve respect; walls that drain deserve none.