SpotGamma™

S&P 500 Stock Market Gamma Trading Levels Based on Options Open Interest

Market Analysis

Vol Sellers Shrug off a Hawkish Fed

Despite a hawkish Fed rattling equities midweek, the market easily and quickly retraced any lost ground by Thursday. With June OPEX now behind us and implied volatility reset toward recent lows, there is a soft feeling of “what’s next?” for the S&P 500 until earnings season ramps up next month. The June FOMC meeting on […]

Triple Witching + FOMC Fuels Volatility Risk

The market delivered several volatile sessions last week as traders navigated Wednesday’s CPI inflation report, Friday’s massive SpaceX IPO (SPCX), and a mix of Iran-driven headlines throughout. Last Sunday, we wrote about how extreme options positioning into major catalysts could spark the exact volatile market behavior observed over the past several days. Tuesday’s wild 200-point […]

The AI Trade Unwinds

Wall Street’s historic weekly winning streak came to an abrupt halt last week. On Friday, a sharp NFP report drove the S&P 500 down over 2.6%, leading to a sharp AI selloff and rising bond yields. Adding fuel to the fire, the market now appears to be pricing in a rate hike by the end […]

Dispersion & Correlation are Screaming Overbought. Downside Hedging is Cheap.

CBOE’s Dispersion Index (DSPX) is at levels only seen during Covid and the April ’25 tariff crash, while Correlation (COR1M) is near all-time lows. This divergence signals extreme positioning risk driven by the AI stock chase, and makes SPY downside hedges historically cheap. Traders have been chasing AI related names in such heavy-handed fashion that […]

June Catalysts Threaten a Volatility Spasm — How Are Traders Positioning?

The S&P 500 has posted fresh record highs for the ninth straight week. Tech and semiconductor earnings fueled much of the recent surge, with SNOW climbing 52%, DELL gaining 57%, and MU surging 28% within one week. As we move into June, stretched positioning now meets a cluster of major catalysts. Three upcoming events will […]

Record Highs and Thinning Hedges

Last week, the S&P 500 closed its eighth straight weekly gain — the longest streak since 2023. As the rally continues to achieve record highs, underlying options positioning has evolved meaningfully since March. Most importantly, the market has quietly shed much of the protective hedging that was in place just two months ago. A dense […]

NVDA earnings vs. a stretched S&P 500

For the fourth consecutive week, the S&P 500 has struck records highs. This week’s breach of SPX 7,500 even arrived in the face of hotter-than-expected CPI and PPI prints — data that historically would have triggered a meaningful selloff. The tone shifted somewhat on Friday, as the rally lost steam into monthly OPEX. The week […]

The AI Trade Roars — But for How Long?

Last week, strong earnings pushed both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to — once again — achieve all-time highs. Through the fast and furious AI-driven rally of the past 6 weeks, SPX has climbed 15% while NDX has surged 28%. The market’s pace of advance is well beyond historical norms, reflecting an exceptionally aggressive repositioning […]

Quiet Indices, Roaring Stocks: the Volatility Dispersion Trade

Robust Mag7 and semiconductor earnings have reinforced investor confidence in the AI trade, lifting the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to fresh highs. Index implied volatility (IV) — the options market’s expectation of future price movement — reset to its lowest level in three months. Despite the backdrop of the Iran conflict and heightened oil prices, […]