THE READING GUIDE

Know what the
reference means.

Use these definitions alongside the edition’s own conditions. The same market idea can involve very different instruments, and a modeled level serves a different purpose from an observed price.

Start with the instrument

SPX: The S&P 500 cash-index reference. An index level is not a share price or a futures contract. The research labels cash-session references separately from overnight futures trading.
ES and NQ: ES is E-mini S&P 500 futures; NQ is E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures. Each contract has its own price, expiry and risk. NQ is a Nasdaq-100 reference, not the Nasdaq Composite.
ESU6 / NQU6: In the dated 2026 samples, U means September and 6 denotes 2026. The product comes first, then month and year. Other systems may show ESU2026 or NQU2026. Read the edition date and full contract label; a one-digit year is not unique across decades.
SPY, QQQ and other funds: Funds provide a different vehicle from cash indices or futures. Their prices, holdings, costs and trading conventions differ. An ES level cannot simply become a SPY trigger, and an NQ level cannot simply become a QQQ trigger.
Basis: The difference between a futures price and its cash reference, under the stated convention. It changes. Mapping an index level into futures requires a usable basis and matched observation times; a stale projection is not a verified contract-level entry.

Read the condition with the price

Watch: An idea with a question still to resolve. It may have a thesis and reference levels without a complete entry, exit or risk rule. It is not a standing order.
Conditional setup: A plan that qualifies only when all its stated conditions occur within its specified window. A price touch alone does not satisfy a confirmation or retest rule.
Invalid and stand down: An Invalid is the stated condition that defeats a thesis or setup. Stand down means the conditions for acting are absent or no longer satisfied. A thesis Invalid and a trade-specific price Invalid can differ; neither should be inferred from the nearest line on a chart.
Reclaim and retest: A reclaim means price regains a reference; the edition must say what counts as holding it. A retest is a later return to the reference under the plan’s rules. The order of events matters: an earlier touch cannot satisfy a later required retest.
Opening range and session range: The high and low within a specified time window. Check the interval, timezone and contract. A fifteen-minute opening range, a London research window and full exchange-session range answer different questions.
Cutoff, last close and settlement: A cutoff tells you which observations the edition uses. A bar’s close is its final recorded price for that interval; it is not necessarily an official settlement or cash closing update. Delayed bars are not simultaneous executable quotes.

Connect the business to the share price

Earnings per share (EPS): Profit attributable to each common share for a stated period, using the relevant share-count calculation. Diluted EPS accounts for potentially dilutive securities. EPS is not cash paid to shareholders; buybacks and changes in share count can affect it.
Reported and adjusted earnings: Reported results follow the applicable accounting rules. Adjusted results remove specified items under the company’s definition. Read the reconciliation: adjusted does not automatically mean recurring, and two companies may remove different items.
Guidance and consensus: Guidance is management’s outlook. Consensus summarizes estimates from a stated group of analysts. Neither is a result already achieved. Check the date, fiscal period and earnings definition before comparing an outcome with either.
Earnings multiple / P/E: Share price divided by earnings per share. At $100 a share and $5 annual EPS, the multiple is 20 times. Historical earnings, forecast earnings and management guidance produce different measures. A lower multiple alone does not establish a bargain; the earnings may be less durable.
Operating cash flow, capex and free cash flow: Operating cash flow tracks cash generated or used by operating activities. Capital expenditure, or capex, funds long-lived assets. Free cash flow commonly subtracts capex from operating cash flow; check the issuer’s definition. More investment can reduce today’s free cash flow without telling you whether that investment will pay off.

Read the wider market

Breadth and participation: How widely a move is shared across a defined group of securities. An index can rise because a few heavily weighted stocks gain. An equal-weight fund comparison offers another perspective, but does not tell you how many stocks advanced or which sectors drove the move.
Nominal and real yields: A nominal yield is expressed before an inflation adjustment. A real yield is expressed in inflation-adjusted terms; the research identifies the measure, such as an inflation-protected Treasury yield. The gap between comparable nominal and real yields is influenced by inflation compensation, risk and liquidity, so it is not a pure forecast of inflation.
Basis points and percentage points: One basis point is 0.01 percentage point. A yield rising from 4.00% to 4.25% rises 25 basis points, or 0.25 percentage point. That is different from saying the yield rose 0.25 percent.

Treat gamma as modeled context

Delta and gamma: Delta estimates how an option’s value changes with a small change in the underlying price. Gamma estimates how that delta changes as the underlying moves. They describe option sensitivity, not a prediction of the next market move.
GEX / gamma exposure: A modeled aggregation of option gamma under assumptions about positions, inputs and included expirations. Its magnitude and sign depend on the methodology. Positive modeled exposure does not by itself prove dealer holdings or a bullish forecast; compare values only when units and scope are compatible.
Call wall and put wall: Provider-defined levels highlighting concentrations in the modeled options map. They are context for a price test, not guaranteed resistance or support. The brief must identify the model time and any mapping limitations.
Gamma flip: A model-estimated underlying price where aggregate gamma changes sign. The value depends on assumptions and inputs. If the model does not provide a usable flip, it remains unavailable; another field must not be substituted for it.
Max pain and pin: Max pain is a theoretical underlying price that minimizes aggregate option intrinsic-value payouts under a specified open-interest calculation. A pin refers to price clustering near a strike around expiration, or a separately labeled estimate of that behavior. Neither guarantees where price will finish; max pain is not a substitute for a pin or a missing flip.
Cash-to-futures projection: A modeled cash-index level translated onto a futures price axis. It remains different from an observed futures high or low. Without an identified contract, current basis and compatible timestamps, the projection cannot establish a tradable distance to the contract price.

Go deeper

For company accounts, see the SEC’s financial-statement guide and Investor.gov’s P/E explanation.

For contract notation, see CME’s contract-code guide. For option sensitivity, see OIC’s gamma explanation. Aggregate gamma-map labels depend on the model and should be read with the edition’s limitations.

How the terms fit into a setup → · Explore the samples →

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Kill the Level publishes general market research for educational and informational purposes only. It does not provide personalized investment advice. The analysis does not account for your financial circumstances, objectives or risk tolerance. Past, hypothetical, modeled or backtested results do not predict future results. Investing and trading involve risk, including possible loss of principal.