> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://auramarkets.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Watchlists & heatmaps

> How to build a watchlist, what the heatmap encodes, and how to read the history view.

Watchlists are the workhorse of the [Single Names](/single-names/overview) section — your personal collections of tickers, surfaced as heatmaps, performance tables, and history charts.

## Building a watchlist

Two ways to populate one:

### From scratch

1. Click **+** next to the watchlist picker
2. Name it (e.g., "AI infrastructure")
3. Add tickers — either typed in or pasted as a comma/newline-separated list

### From a sector

1. Click **Browse Sectors** in the top controls
2. Pick a sector (e.g., Technology)
3. Optionally filter by industry, market cap, or include/exclude ETFs
4. Click **Load** — it loads as a temporary watchlist
5. Save it (with the `+` action) if you want to keep it

Watchlists save automatically and persist across sessions, scoped to your account.

## The heatmap view

The default rendering of a watchlist is a heatmap grid — one tile per ticker, color-encoded by performance over the active timeframe.

### Color encoding

The heatmap uses the same scheme as the [Indices cards](/indices/reading-cards):

* **Bright green** = top performers (95th+ percentile of today's distribution)
* **Light green** = upper quartile
* **Neutral** = middle
* **Light red** = lower quartile
* **Bright red** = bottom decile

### Two display modes

Toggle in the controls:

* **% mode** — color encodes raw percentage move
* **σ (sigma) mode** — color encodes the move relative to the ticker's own volatility

Sigma mode is more useful for comparing across tickers with very different normal volatility (a 5% move in a utility is very different from a 5% move in a small-cap biotech).

### Timeframes

The "usual timeframes" toggle works the same as on Indices: 1D, 1W, 1M, 3M, 6M, YTD, 1Y, plus a Custom date range.

## The performance table view

For lists where you want numbers rather than colors, switch to the table view. Sortable by any column — return, vol, sigma, current price, etc.

## History view

The history tab shows how the watchlist itself has performed over time, treating each list as an equal-weight basket. Use it to:

* See which of your themes are working over weeks/months
* Compare a custom list to SPY or a relevant ETF
* Spot regime shifts in a basket before individual tickers obviously break out

## How most people use it

* **One watchlist per theme** — not one giant list. AI, energy, EM, crypto-related, etc.
* **Heatmap first, table second** — heatmaps catch outliers in 2 seconds; tables answer the follow-up
* **Sigma mode when comparing across cap sizes** — keeps the eye honest
* **History view weekly** — to see if your theses are actually playing out