The Gamma Is Above Us, Not Under Us — SPX Morning Note, Aug 17, 2026

Key numbers

7,789: Premarket
7,800: Call wall
7,775: Gamma flip
7,755: Put wall
7,755–7,825: Range

The heavy positive gamma isn't where price is. It's overhead. 7,800 is the biggest node, 7,805 and 7,810 sit right behind it, and the block runs up to 7,825. Where premarket actually sits, between the flip and the wall, the nodes are thin. Fourteen points of footing.

That shape cuts both ways. Dealers aren't damping much right here, so moves inside this pocket travel further than they did last week. Clearing 7,800 pulls instead of capping, because what's above the wall is real rather than an empty shelf. Losing 7,775 does the reverse. The flip is itself a heavy negative, and the negatives run continuous into the put wall at 7,755 with prior demand at 7,754 sitting on it, then another heavy node at 7,740. There's also no prior structure above premarket, so the upside today is gamma and nothing else.

Friday closed 7,785.76, off 0.17%, backing away from Thursday's record — the 27th of the year. Retail sales fell and August consumer sentiment came in softer, which did the damage late. It still finished a third straight weekly gain, up 0.4%. This morning futures are mixed with the Nasdaq out front. Semis are leading, SMH up about 1.2%, memory names bid again. Oil edging higher. Empire State at 8:30 and housing at 10:00 are the only prints, and neither one moves this tape. Home Depot, Target, Lowe's and Walmart report this week, with the July FOMC minutes Wednesday.

I lean higher while 7,775 holds. But the footing under premarket is thinner than the last two sessions, and nothing today forces a resolution, so a drift lower into Wednesday reads more likely than a break up.

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Big Picture Levels

7,786: Friday's close.
7,733: 8 EMA (daily).
7,685: 13 EMA (daily).
7,633: 21 EMA (daily).
7,585: 20-day SMA.
7,512: 50-day SMA.
7,364: 21-week EMA. Trend intact.

Today's Trading — range 7,755–7,825

7,825: Top of the positive block.
7,810: Heavy positive gamma.
7,805: Heavy positive gamma.
7,800: Call wall. Largest positive.
7,795: Positive gamma.
7,789: Premarket.
7,785: Positive gamma.
7,780: Thin positive.
7,775: Gamma flip. Heavy negative on it.
7,763: Prior resistance.
7,760: Negative gamma.
7,755: Put wall + prior demand.
7,750: Negative gamma.
7,746: Prior demand.
7,740: Heavy negative gamma.
7,734: Prior demand.
7,725: Prior demand.

GEX Profile (Aug 17)

Call Wall: 7,800. Largest positive node, but only 1.2x the next one, so 7,800 through 7,810 is better read as a single block than as a wall. Above it the gamma stays thick all the way to 7,825, which is what makes clearing it a pull rather than a ceiling.
Gamma Flip: 7,775. Only 14 below premarket, and unusually the flip strike itself carries a heavy negative rather than a small one. Clean crossover, no chop between it and the wall.
Put Wall: 7,755. Largest negative and 1.4x the next, 34 below, with prior demand at 7,754 sitting on it. A narrow shelf under the flip rather than a floor, and 7,740 is heavy right beneath.

The read is the asymmetry of the pocket. Premarket sits on thin positive gamma with a dense block above and dense negatives below. Inside the pocket, moves are not being absorbed the way they were last week. Fourteen points down is a regime change with fuel behind it. Twenty-five points up is a magnet.

Call wall, gamma flip, put wall — what they mean and why they run the session.

Execution Levels

Long Plan

Entry	Why	Targets
Dip Buy: 7,785	Positive gamma just under premarket.	7,798, 7,808, 7,820
Deep Bid: 7,775	The flip. Reclaiming it fast is the tell.	7,790, 7,802, 7,815
Extreme: 7,755	Put wall with prior demand on it.	7,770, 7,782, 7,795
Reclaim: 7,800	Into the block, where the gamma actually is.	7,812, 7,822, 7,832
Continuation: 7,840	Past the block. Gamma thins from here.	7,855, 7,870, 7,885

Short Plan

Entry	Why	Targets
Fade pops to: 7,822	Top of the block, not the wall.	7,808, 7,795, 7,782
Breakdown: 7,775	Loss of the flip into continuous negatives.	7,762, 7,750, 7,745
Below 7,740	prior demand steps down from 7,734.	7,725, 7,713, 7,698

How the entry tiers and targets are built: the SPX 0DTE strategy guide.

VIX Levels

13.74
14.22 key
14.78 key
15.29
15.62
15.79
16.26
16.65
17.11 key

VIX 14.94, back above 14.78 and under 15.29. Through 15.29 and 7,775 gets tested.

Educational research, not investment advice. Levels and the plan describe how the desk framed that session and are published after it closed.