Reading the market regime before prices move
Reading the market regime before prices move
Every number here is computed from the traded COST options chain. The call wall is where dealer hedging accumulates above spot and caps upside, the put wall is its mirror below, and the gamma flip is the level where hedging stops damping moves and starts amplifying them.
| Strike | Calls | Puts | Today's volume | Skew |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 900.00 | 355 | 4,773 | 1,159 | Put |
| 905.00 | 59 | 1,468 | 564 | Put |
| 910.00 | 234 | 3,806 | 998 | Put |
| 915.00 | 193 | 1,735 | 1,441 | Put |
| 917.50 | 4 | 46 | 151 | Put |
| 920.00 | 655 | 3,364 | 2,342 | Put |
| 922.50 | 27 | 46 | 153 | Put |
| 925.00 | 663 | 1,674 | 1,506 | Put |
| 927.50 | 15 | 11 | 41 | Call |
| 930.00 | 878 | 1,714 | 1,113 | Put |
| 932.50 | 12 | 6 | 28 | Call |
| 935.00 | 951 | 1,153 | 388 | Put |
| Day | Price | Gamma flip | Call wall | Put wall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-06 | 945.87 | 943.50 | 950.00 | 925.00 |
| 2026-08-07 | 946.67 | 944.81 | 950.00 | 945.00 |
| 2026-08-10 | 945.17 | 948.03 | 950.00 | 900.00 |
| 2026-08-11 | 942.70 | 946.65 | 950.00 | 920.00 |
| 2026-08-12 | 949.16 | 946.19 | 950.00 | 920.00 |
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Max pain strike | 940.00 |
| Put/Call ratio · today's volume | 1.15 |
| Put/Call ratio · open interest | 1.28 |
| 0DTE gamma flip | 938.93 |
| 0DTE contracts in chain | 256 |
| Total contracts read | 1,370 |
Price 915.74 is under the gamma flip 942.13 by 2.80%. Positioning is negative: dealer hedging runs **with** the move rather than against it, so jumps become wider and reversals sharper. Sessions in this state move more than the size of the news would suggest. Price is inside the range between 910.00 and 940.00, closer to Put wall of the two.
The largest call cluster sits at 940.00 (2.65% from price) and the largest put cluster at 910.00 (-0.63% from price). They are 3.30% apart — a normal range: COST tends to stay inside it while positioning holds, because hedging at each wall resists a break through it.
صافي تعرّض الغاما لـCOST يبلغ −162.94 مليون، وهو حجمٌ محدود. Hedging for a 1% move is about 177,935 shares. In this range hedging stays secondary to the stock's own flow, so the levels below should not be asked to carry more than they can.
and this reading is built on 1,370 contracts in the chain.
Over the last 27 days of tracking (298 archived snapshots), COST stayed above the gamma flip in 45% of readings، وتنقّلت نقطةُ الانقلاب نفسُها بين 932.97 و959.05، أي بنطاق 2.80٪، وهو ما يعني أنّ the level is relatively stable and reads as a firmer reference than a symbol whose level swings، and net exposure today is above the period average (−21.24 مليون).
