The 8 Key Levels Explained
Call Wall · Put Wall · OI Flip · Flow Flip · P1 · N1 · AG1 · AG2 — what each level means, how it’s computed, and how to read it.
TL;DR
GammaFlux draws 8 levels plus spot from two complementary layers. The Call/Put Walls and the OI Flip come from open interest — the deep, standing structure price tends to respect. The magnets (P1, N1, AG1, AG2) and the Flow Flip come from live order flow— where today’s actual trading is concentrating dealer hedging. That split isn’t arbitrary: we backtested it. OI levels contained price better as walls; flow levels attracted price more tightly as magnets and tracked the regime truer as the live flip. So we use each where it wins.
Three ways to read the 8 levels
The levels aren’t all doing the same job, and they don’t all come from the same data:
- →Walls / support & resistance — Call Wall, Put Wall (open interest). Where deep standing positioning pushes back against price.
- →Regime boundaries — OI Flip (static, open interest) and Flow Flip (live flow). Whether the market is in a volatility-dampening or volatility-amplifying mode — and which way today’s flow is dragging that line.
- →Magnets — P1, N1, AG1, AG2 (live flow). Where today’s gamma is concentrating — price tends to gravitate toward them.
The levels, one by one
Call Wall
The largest positive-gamma strike above spot — from open interest.
The Call Wall is where dealers are most long call gamma. As price approaches it, dealers sell more of the underlying to stay hedged, which creates natural resistance. Call Walls tend to pin price below them, especially into expiration. A clean break above often triggers a fast move, because that accumulated dealer short-delta has to unwind in a hurry.
How it’s computed: Computed from the open-interest call-gamma profile across the chain — the strike with the largest positive call-gamma contribution. The walls stay OI-based on purpose: in our backtesting, OI walls contained price as well as or better than flow-based walls, because they sit on deep standing positioning the market respects, whereas flow-based walls hug spot and get breached more easily.
Put Wall
The largest negative-gamma strike below spot — from open interest.
The Put Wall is the symmetric cousin of the Call Wall — the strike where dealers are most short put gamma. As price falls toward it, dealer hedging creates buying pressure that tends to stabilize or bounce price. A clean break below is a significant regime event, because that hedging support disappears.
How it’s computed: Computed from the open-interest put-gamma profile — the strike with the largest negative put-gamma contribution. OI-based for the same reason as the Call Wall: standing positioning contains price more reliably than intraday flow in our tests.
OI Flip (Gamma Flip)
Where aggregate dealer gamma crosses zero, from settled open interest — the static regime anchor.
The OI Flip is the structural regime boundary. Above it, dealers are net long gamma — they sell rallies and buy dips, dampening volatility and encouraging mean-reversion. Below it, dealers are net short gamma — they buy rallies and sell dips, amplifying volatility and encouraging trending moves. Which side of the Flip price sits on should shape your entire trading style for the day.
How it’s computed: Calculated from settled open interest across all strikes and expirations. It's the static flip — your daily regime anchor — and it doesn't move during the session.
Flow Flip
The regime boundary recomputed continuously from live order flow.
The Flow Flip is GammaFlux's signature level. It starts the day at the OI Flip, then migrates through the session as live options order flow reveals how dealer positioning is actually shifting. When the Flow Flip pulls meaningfully away from the OI Flip, real-time flow is rewriting the regime — and price usually follows. Watching the two flips diverge is the core GammaFlux read: the OI Flip is where structure says the regime is; the Flow Flip is where today's trading is dragging it.
How it’s computed: Recomputed every cycle by our live directional order-flow engine — volume-adjusted and buy/sell-aware — not just open interest. It's the flow-based counterpart to the OI Flip. See the methodology guide for details.
P1 — Strongest Positive-Gamma Magnet
The strike with the largest positive net gamma — from live flow.
P1 is the strike where net gamma is most positive on the live-flow profile — the most dealer-stabilized strike on the board. Price approaching it from outside tends to mean-revert toward it. It often sits near the Call Wall, but not always: P1 tracks where today's flow is actually concentrating positive gamma, which can lead or diverge from the standing OI wall.
How it’s computed: The peak of the LIVE-FLOW net-gamma profile (directional, volume-adjusted). We use live flow for the magnets — P1, N1, AG1, AG2 — because in our backtesting flow-based magnets attracted price meaningfully tighter (~20–40%) than open-interest ones. Flow finds where today's gravity actually is.
N1 — Strongest Negative-Gamma Magnet
The strike with the most negative net gamma — from live flow.
N1 is P1's mirror — the strike with the most negative net gamma on the live-flow profile. It's where dealer hedging most aggressively accelerates moves: price dropping into N1 can pick up speed rather than bounce, because the concentrated short-gamma position forces dealers to sell into weakness.
How it’s computed: The trough (most-negative point) of the live-flow net-gamma profile. Flow-based for the same reason as P1 — tighter, truer attraction in testing than the OI version.
AG1 — Largest Absolute Gamma Peak
The strike with the single largest concentration of total gamma activity — calls plus puts, ignoring sign.
AG1 is the strike where |call gamma| + |put gamma| is largest — the single biggest pile of gamma on the board, regardless of direction. Unlike P1/N1, which track signed positioning, AG1 tracks raw concentration. Because it's built on the live-flow-weighted profile, it follows where today's actual hedging mass is sitting — which is frequently a heavily-traded round number or popular expiry strike rather than the at-the-money strike. When AG1 coincides with spot, that's meaningful: price has drifted into the dominant gamma mountain and hedging there will dominate the tape.
How it’s computed: For each strike the engine computes power_zone = |call GEX| + |put GEX| on the live-flow profile, then picks the maximum. Flow-weighted, so it reflects today's activity rather than only standing open interest — which, in our backtesting, is what makes the magnets attract price more tightly.
AG2 — Second-Largest Absolute Gamma Peak
The next-largest absolute gamma peak, required to sit a meaningful distance from AG1.
AG2 is the second-ranked strike on the same |call GEX| + |put GEX| distribution that produces AG1, with one rule: it must be spatially separated from AG1. The engine walks down the sorted list and takes the first strike at least 5 points away (SPY/QQQ) or 25 points away (SPX/NDX). Without that rule, AG2 would usually land right next to AG1 — one cluster counted twice. When AG1 and AG2 sit near the spacing floor, you have one wide pinning zone; when they're far apart, two distinct magnets, and the one closer to price usually dominates.
How it’s computed: After AG1 is picked, the engine continues down the sorted (live-flow) power_zone list and selects the first strike at least 5 strikes away (SPY/QQQ, $1 grid) or 25 points (SPX/NDX, $5 grid). If none qualifies, AG2 is not reported.
When levels agree
The levels are read off the same gamma surface (open interest for the walls, live flow for the magnets), so they often snap to the same strike or cluster tightly. When two or three agree, that strike is structurally important. When four or more agree, it’s a heavyweight magnet — the kind of level where price pins all day or reverses sharply when tagged.
GammaFlux surfaces these agreements as convergence scores next to each level. See the convergence guide for how to read them and what they mean for your trade setup.
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