What is a market heatmap?
How tile size and colour turn a list of markets into a picture, and how a custom board differs from a preset map.
A market heatmap turns a list of prices into a picture. Each symbol is a tile. Colour shows a metric, usually the percent change over a window you choose. Size shows another metric, such as market cap, volume, or an equal weight so every name takes the same space.
The familiar version is a treemap. Large companies or coins get large tiles. A rising price is drawn in one colour and a falling price in another. You can see the shape of a list in a second. You cannot read a precise order book from it. A heatmap is a scan, not a quote screen.
Preset maps and custom boards
Most public heatmaps are preset. One map for a stock index. Another for the largest crypto coins. Forex, when it is offered, is often a separate grid. They are useful, and they are the same map for everyone.
A custom board is the list you would have written down. You choose the symbols. You can put a coin, a currency pair and a share on the same map, because that is the list you actually check. TickHeat is built around that idea. The crypto, forex and stock pages describe each market.
Colour is a choice
Colour does not have to mean percent change. People also look at RSI, at how lively volume is compared with its recent average, or at how far a price sits from a high. Changing the colour metric changes the picture. It does not change the list of symbols.
None of this is a recommendation. A tile in the "up" colour is not a reason to buy, and a tile in the "down" colour is not a reason to sell. The picture is only as current as the data behind it, and that data can be delayed or incomplete. See the disclaimer.
If you want the same list in another shape, a heatmap is one view. Bubbles, cards, a list and a multi-timeframe matrix are others. Features covers them.
This is a starter article. It explains an idea. It does not quote live prices.
Scanner signals, news, the Today recap and AI notes are information, not financial advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell. Read the disclaimer.