GEX profile (options)

The GEX profile shows, per strike, how much delta options dealers would have to hedge if the price moves by 1%, plus the call wall, put wall, max pain and gamma flip as lines. At such prices, dealer hedging can slow the market down or speed it up. The profile is available for BTC and ETH.

What you see

• Four lines with labels like “Call wall 92K”: call wall and put wall dashed in the rising and falling colors, max pain dotted in yellow, gamma flip dash-dotted in the text color. A line outside the visible price range is not shown.

How to read it

• Above the gamma flip, net GEX is usually positive: dealers are long gamma, sell into rallies and buy into dips. That dampens moves.
• Below the gamma flip, it is usually negative: dealers hedge in the direction of the move and amplify it.
• The call wall often acts as a ceiling, the put wall as a floor, because hedging runs most strongly against the move there.
• Max pain can pull the price toward it into expiry, especially at large monthly and quarterly expiries. It is not a reliable price target.
• Large bars close to the price are prices where the market often stalls.

Limitations

• The profile only knows the open interest, not who holds which side. The sign convention is an assumption. Read the profile as a map, not as a forecast.
• The gamma flip holds volatilities and times to expiry fixed. If volatility changes a lot, the real turning point shifts.
• Max pain ignores the price at which the options were bought. It only measures the payout at expiry.
• The profile is a picture of the current state. It shows no history, and the lines apply across the full width of the chart.

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