diff --git a/piker/ui/_display.py b/piker/ui/_display.py
index 432eaf14..b51db7d8 100644
--- a/piker/ui/_display.py
+++ b/piker/ui/_display.py
@@ -59,9 +59,58 @@ _clear_throttle_rate: int = 58  # Hz
 _book_throttle_rate: int = 16  # Hz
 
 
+def update_fsp_chart(
+    chart: ChartPlotWidget,
+    shm: ShmArray,
+    display_name: str,
+    array_key: Optional[str],
+
+) -> None:
+
+    array = shm.array
+
+    # XXX: is this a problem any more after porting to the
+    # ``tractor.Context`` api or can we remove it?
+
+    # TODO: provide a read sync mechanism to avoid this polling.  the
+    # underlying issue is that a backfill (aka prepend) and subsequent
+    # shm array first/last index update could result in an empty array
+    # read here since the stream is never torn down on the re-compute
+    # steps.
+    # read_tries = 2
+    # while read_tries > 0:
+    #     try:
+    #         # read last
+    #         array = shm.array
+    #         value = array[-1][array_key]
+    #         break
+
+    #     except IndexError:
+    #         read_tries -= 1
+    #         continue
+
+    # update graphics
+    chart.update_curve_from_array(
+        display_name,
+        array,
+        array_key=array_key or display_name,
+    )
+
+    last_val_sticky = chart._ysticks.get(display_name)
+    if last_val_sticky:
+        # read from last calculated value
+        # XXX: fsp func names must be unique meaning we don't have
+        # duplicates of the underlying data even if multiple
+        # sub-charts reference it under different 'named charts'.
+        array = shm.array[array_key]
+        if len(array):
+            value = array[-1]
+            last_val_sticky.update_from_data(-1, value)
+
+
 async def update_chart_from_quotes(
 
-    chart: ChartPlotWidget,
+    linked: LinkedSplits,
     stream: tractor.MsgStream,
     ohlcv: np.ndarray,
 
@@ -84,6 +133,8 @@ async def update_chart_from_quotes(
     # - 1-5 sec bar lookback-autocorrection like tws does?
     #   (would require a background history checker task)
 
+    chart = linked.chart
+
     # update last price sticky
     last_price_sticky = chart._ysticks[chart.name]
     last_price_sticky.update_from_data(
@@ -310,6 +361,33 @@ async def update_chart_from_quotes(
 
                 last_mx, last_mn = mx, mn
 
+            # run synchronous update on all derived fsp subplots
+            # print(f'subplots: {linked.subplots.keys()}')
+            for name, subchart in linked.subplots.items():
+                update_fsp_chart(
+                    subchart,
+                    subchart._shm,
+
+                    # XXX: do we really needs seperate names here?
+                    name,
+                    array_key=name,
+                )
+
+                # TODO: all overlays on all subplots..
+
+            # run synchronous update on all derived overlays
+            # print(f'overlays: {chart._overlays}')
+            for name, shm in chart._overlays.items():
+                update_fsp_chart(
+                    chart,
+                    shm,
+
+                    # XXX: do we really needs seperate names here?
+                    name,
+                    array_key=name,
+                )
+
+
 
 def maybe_mk_fsp_shm(
     sym: str,
@@ -318,7 +396,8 @@ def maybe_mk_fsp_shm(
     readonly: bool = True,
 
 ) -> (ShmArray, bool):
-    '''Allocate a single row shm array for an symbol-fsp pair.
+    '''Allocate a single row shm array for an symbol-fsp pair if none
+    exists, otherwise load the shm already existing for that token.
 
     '''
     uid = tractor.current_actor().uid
@@ -436,7 +515,6 @@ async def open_fspd_cluster(
         tractor.open_nursery() as n,
         trio.open_nursery() as ln,
     ):
-
         # Currently we spawn an actor per fsp chain but
         # likely we'll want to pool them eventually to
         # scale horizonatlly once cores are used up.
@@ -456,8 +534,6 @@ async def open_fspd_cluster(
             # "feeds".  assert opened, f"A chart for {key} likely
             # already exists?"
 
-            # conf['shm'] = shm
-
             portal = await n.start_actor(
                 enable_modules=['piker.fsp._engine'],
                 name='fsp.' + display_name,
@@ -543,6 +619,8 @@ async def update_chart_from_fsp(
                 overlay=True,
                 color='default_light',
             )
+            # specially store ref to shm for lookup in display loop
+            chart._overlays[display_name] = shm
 
         else:
             chart = linkedsplits.add_plot(
@@ -636,52 +714,6 @@ async def update_chart_from_fsp(
                 last = time.time()
 
 
-def update_fsp_chart(
-    chart: ChartPlotWidget,
-    shm: ShmArray,
-    display_name: str,
-    array_key: str,
-
-) -> None:
-
-    array = shm.array
-
-    # XXX: is this a problem any more after porting to the
-    # ``tractor.Context`` api?
-    # TODO: provide a read sync mechanism to avoid this polling.  the
-    # underlying issue is that a backfill (aka prepend) and subsequent
-    # shm array first/last index update could result in an empty array
-    # read here since the stream is never torn down on the re-compute
-    # steps.
-    # read_tries = 2
-    # while read_tries > 0:
-    #     try:
-    #         # read last
-    #         array = shm.array
-    #         value = array[-1][array_key]
-    #         break
-
-    #     except IndexError:
-    #         read_tries -= 1
-    #         continue
-
-    # update graphics
-    chart.update_curve_from_array(
-        display_name,
-        array,
-        array_key=array_key,
-    )
-
-    last_val_sticky = chart._ysticks.get(display_name)
-    if last_val_sticky:
-        # read from last calculated value
-        # XXX: fsp func names must be unique meaning we don't have
-        # duplicates of the underlying data even if multiple
-        # sub-charts reference it under different 'named charts'.
-        value = shm.array[array_key][-1]
-        last_val_sticky.update_from_data(-1, value)
-
-
 async def check_for_new_bars(feed, ohlcv, linkedsplits):
     """Task which updates from new bars in the shared ohlcv buffer every
     ``delay_s`` seconds.
@@ -1002,7 +1034,7 @@ async def display_symbol_data(
             # start graphics update loop(s)after receiving first live quote
             ln.start_soon(
                 update_chart_from_quotes,
-                chart,
+                linkedsplits,
                 feed.stream,
                 ohlcv,
                 wap_in_history,