The dealer gamma glossary
Every level on a gamma exposure chart reduces to a handful of terms. Each one gets a page here: a one-sentence definition, the mechanics underneath it, how traders actually use it, and — just as important — what it is not. The definitions carry no live figures, because levels are rebuilt from settled open interest every day; the terms are the part that does not change.
All six definitions are consistent with Profit Builders' published gamma exposure methodology — settled OCC open interest, the standard dealer sign convention, gamma computed in-house — including its stated limits. Where the vocabulary describes positioning and hedging mechanics, it says so; none of these terms is a direction prediction.
The gamma flip is the price level at which net dealer gamma exposure changes sign: above it, dealer hedging works against price moves and dampens them; below it, hedging works with price moves and amplifies them.
Zero gamma is the price at which a symbol's net dealer gamma exposure equals zero — the boundary line between the regime where dealer hedging dampens price moves and the regime where it amplifies them.
A call wall is the strike price carrying the largest call-side gamma exposure in a symbol's options chain — the level where dealer hedging flow concentrates most heavily, and where advances most often meet mechanical resistance.
A put wall is the strike price carrying the largest put-side gamma exposure in a symbol's options chain — the level where dealer hedging flow concentrates most heavily, and where declines most often meet a mechanical cushion.
Dealer gamma is the total gamma options dealers are estimated to carry across a symbol's options chain — the position that obliges them to buy or sell the underlying as its price moves, and whose hedging flow either pushes back against a move or feeds it.
Tracking dealer gamma exposure means rebuilding dealers' hedging map from public options data — settled open interest, per-contract gamma computed at live spot, the dealer sign convention, summed by strike — and reading the gamma flip and the walls off the result.
Where the terms come from
These definitions describe the same surface you can inspect live: per-ticker gamma pages for 194 symbols, each stamped with the date its open interest settled. For the long-form walkthrough with examples, read What Is Gamma Exposure (GEX)? A Trader's Guide; for how the tools that compute these levels compare, see Best GEX tools, compared on method and price.
Profit Builders provides market-data analysis and educational information, not investment advice. Options trading involves substantial risk. Past performance does not guarantee future results.