SPX conducts. CHORUS shows who plays along.
Eight sets across the market, the vol complex, breadth, the heavyweights, banks, defensives, the dollar and rates, are read against SPX every minute. CHORUS counts who moves with it and who goes the other way, gives each set and the whole field a strength from 0 to 100, and sits beside our own breadth over the S&P 500's members. It describes the minute; it never forecasts the next one.
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Why: a move SPX makes alone reads differently from one the whole market makes with it; CHORUS shows which it is, every minute, beside the book. Where: CHORUS ▼n ▲n on the top bar, after the panels; a press opens its panel at the right of the chart, on the row's one scroll with the panels.
How to use it
- Read the counts on the top bar: ▼ how many of the eight sets move in unison with SPX down, ▲ with SPX up.
- 01 Confirmations: one slot a set, its colour the way it reads SPX and its depth its strength, full in unison; outlined, a set against SPX. Below it the counts, the sets against SPX (⇄) and the chorus's strength, 0 to 100.
- 02 Internals: our own advance-decline (ADD·500), tick (TICK·500), up and down volume (VOLD·500) and arms index (TRIN·500) over the S&P 500's members, each with its line through the day.
- 03 Each set: each set's agreement with SPX over the last 15 minutes or since the open, and one word for what it is doing: FEAR BID, BROAD ▼, SHELTER, ROTATING OUT.
- 04 Through the day: the sets in unison each minute as bars, the chorus's strength as a line over them and SPX dashed; then ADD·500 through the day.
How to read it
- SPX conducts; CHORUS shows who plays along. ▼5 ▲0 with a strength near 60 is a broad move; ▼1 with the rest quiet is a narrow one.
- A set against SPX (⇄) is money going the other way: defensives bid while SPX rises, or the market beyond tech up while tech falls.
- The header says how long the majority has held: ▼ SINCE 09:58 · 14 MIN. NO MAJORITY is a mixed or quiet field, and it is the most common state.
- CHORUS describes the minute. Tested over 266 sessions, how many sets move in unison does not tell what SPX does next.
Settings and controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| CHORUS ▼n ▲n | The top bar's group: the counts at the minute on screen; a press opens or closes the panel |
| SPX 1m | What every set is read against, and how often: SPX, once a minute |
| EXPAND | The nine sets' charts over the stage; again to give the chart back |
| × | Closes the panel; the counts stay on the top bar |
| 01 to 04 | A click on a section's header folds it to one line of its value and opens it again; the folds are kept |
| Now · 15m / Today | 03 reads each set over the last 15 minutes, or since the open |
| A set's row | Opens that set as a ready-made 4-Up; ← BACK in the header returns to your own layout |
| LIVE | Where a finished day was rebuilt without the whole market's volume, VOLD·500 and TRIN·500 wait for the live session |
What it measures
The eight counted sets are ready-made sets of four: the vol complex, the VIX curve, breadth (equal weight, small caps, the Dow), the index heavyweights, the market beyond tech, banks and payments, the defensive weights, and the dollar and rates. The S&P mirror (SPXL, SPXS, SH) is listed but never counted: it follows SPX by construction.
How to use it through the day. Open CHORUS beside the chart and leave it there. The questions it answers are about the move you are already watching, not about the next one.
At the open. The first fifteen minutes fill the window: the counts start empty and the sets speak once their own usual move is known. Read 02 first: ADD·500 says how many of the 500 are up or down on the day, and PULSE marks the open's breadth at 10:00 when it is among the widest of the last sixty sessions.
When SPX moves. Look at 01. Four or five slots filling the same colour is a move the market makes together; one slot alone is SPX, or tech, moving by itself. The strength line in 04 shows whether the agreement is building or fading.
When something goes the other way. An outlined slot or a word like SHELTER, ROTATING OUT or ALL BID in 03 is the place to look: click its row and its four charts open as a 4-Up, so you see which ticker took it there. ← BACK returns to your layout.
When the field turns. A chorus flip (four or more sets one way, held ten minutes) and the breadth events reach PULSE with the bell, so you hear them with the panel shut.
| Set | Its four, each signed against SPX | In unison with SPX down reads | Its word in 03, SPX down |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vol complex | SPX, VXX (−), SVXY, UVXY (−) | fear bid: vol up as SPX falls | FEAR BID |
| Vol x2 | SPX, UVIX (−), SVIX, VIX (−) | the VIX curve bid | CURVE BID |
| Breadth | SPX, RSP, IWM, DIA | equal weight, small caps and the Dow fall with it | BROAD ▼ / BROAD ▲, NARROW |
| Index weights | SPX, NVDA, MSFT, AAPL | the top three lead it | TOP-3 ▼ / TOP-3 ▲ |
| Beyond tech | JPM, V, XOM, LLY | the rest of the market falls too | BEYOND ▼, or ROTATING OUT / IN against it |
| Banks & payments | JPM, WFC, V, MA | financials fall with it | BANKS ▼, or BANKS UP / DOWN against it |
| Defensive weights | PG, KO, JNJ, ABBV (−) | staples and health care bid | SHELTER, or ALL BID / NO SHELTER against it |
| Dollar & rates | SPX, TLT (−), UUP (−), HYG | bonds and the dollar bid | BONDS BID |
| S&P mirror | SPX, SPXL, SPXS (−), SH (−) | listed, never counted | MECHANICAL |
A worked day: 14 October 2026. A hot inflation print, tech leading SPX lower and a turn into defensives and bonds. At 09:58 the vol complex, the VIX curve, breadth and the heavyweights went into unison with SPX down; at 10:07 the chorus turned ▼ (five of eight held ten minutes) and PULSE rang. By 10:12 the strength stood at 52, ADD·500 at 138 up against 364 down, the dollar and rates read BONDS BID and the market beyond tech showed a BREAK. Through the afternoon the sets fell quiet and 04's line came back toward zero; at 15:26 five sets turned ▲ with the late bounce and the chorus turned again.
Limits
Each minute reads only the minutes before it, so a finished session shows exactly what the live one showed. Finished sessions are free and go back to October 2025; a rebuilt day carries ADD·500 and TICK·500, and VOLD·500 and TRIN·500 come with the live sessions.
Related
- LIVE
- LIVE: Strength, not yes or no
- LIVE: Internals over the S&P 500
- LIVE: The sets, opened
- LIVE: CHORUS in PULSE
- LIVE: Chart layouts
Questions
- Does CHORUS say what SPX does next?
- No. It is a reading of the minute, not a signal. Over 266 sessions the count of sets in unison did not tell what SPX did next, and nothing in CHORUS is a trade call.
- What does "in unison" mean?
- All four tickers of a set move the way the set says they move together, each against its own usual 15-minute move, with a strength of 55 or more; it stays in unison until the strength falls under 35, so it does not flicker.
- Why is the S&P mirror not counted?
- SPXL, SPXS and SH follow SPX by construction, so their unison says nothing SPX did not already say.
- Are ADD·500 and TICK·500 the NYSE's $ADD and $TICK?
- No. They are computed by FirmTape every minute over the day's S&P 500 members, a different and smaller list than the NYSE's.
- Why does VOLD·500 show LIVE on an older day?
- VOLD·500 and TRIN·500 need the whole market's volume each minute, which only the live session reads. Days rebuilt from history carry ADD·500 and TICK·500.
- Is it free?
- Every finished session is free in REPLAY. Today's session as it trades comes with LIVE.