What is the GEX Flip Price?
The GEX flip price (also called the zero-gamma level) is the price at which modelled aggregate dealer gamma changes sign, from positive to negative. It divides two regimes in the model: above the flip, dealers are modelled as hedging against moves, which dampens them; below it, as hedging with moves, which amplifies them. It is a model output built on an assumption about which side dealers hold, not an observed level.
Positive Gamma vs. Negative Gamma Regimes
When the underlying trades above the GEX flip, dealers are long gamma in aggregate. Their hedging creates a stabilizing effect. As price rises, they sell. As price falls, they buy. That is the hedging associated with choppy, mean-reverting price action and narrower intraday ranges.
When the underlying drops below the GEX flip, dealers flip to short gamma. Now their hedging amplifies moves instead of dampening them. They buy into rallies and sell into declines, adding to directional moves in either direction. How much that hedging moves an index depends on its size against the liquidity available, so the regime describes the character of a move once one starts, not whether one will.
How the GEX Flip Is Calculated
The GEX flip is derived from the total gamma profile across all strikes and expirations. At each possible price point, you calculate the net gamma that dealers hold. Where that net gamma equals zero is the flip point. Above it, the sum of all gamma from calls and puts (adjusted for dealer positioning) is positive. Below it, the sum turns negative.
This calculation requires knowing the open interest at every strike, making assumptions about whether dealers are long or short each contract, and applying the appropriate gamma values from options pricing models. SquawkFlow computes the level from daily-settled open interest and publishes the settlement date with it.
Why the GEX Flip Matters for Day Traders
For intraday traders the flip is useful as a description of which hedging rules the model says apply, read in three zones:
Above the GEX flip: The model has dealers net long gamma, selling into rallies and buying into dips. That is the hedging associated with damped, rotating sessions.
Below the GEX flip: The model has dealers net short gamma, buying into rallies and selling into declines. That is the hedging associated with wider ranges and moves that extend.
At the GEX flip: Close to the flip, net gamma is small and its sign is the least certain part of the model, so a reading there says little about which regime applies. Spot can also cross the flip several times in one session.
None of the three zones says which way price will go, and none is a trading rule.
Real-World Example
The 14 October 2026 entry in SquawkFlow's session record shows a cross in dated numbers. The morning flip was 7,739.61, computed from open interest settled the day before, and the index opened above it, so the regime at the open was positive. The session ranged from 7,693.31 to 7,789.15 and closed at 7,718.94, down 1.11% and 20.67 points below the flip. The record shows spot on one side of the line at the open and the other side at the close. It does not show that the cross caused the decline: a single session cannot separate the regime from whatever else moved the index that day.
Monitoring the GEX Flip on SquawkFlow
SquawkFlow publishes the daily-settled GEX flip alongside the call wall and put wall on its free SPX GEX page, with the open interest settlement date behind them, and the regime label follows spot if it crosses the flip during the session. The Swing Line is published beside them; dealer positioning itself is never observed, only assumed.
The GEX flip is structural context: which side of the line spot is on, and therefore which hedging rules the model says apply. It is not a forecast.