Reference · Appendix C

GEX quick-reference card

Ten structural levels and two expected-move boundaries. One reference surface. The full taxonomy at a glance.

The card as a two-page PDF to print and keep beside the chart.

The ten levels, plus two boundaries

Label	Name	Source	Operational role
GF	Gamma Flip	Operative CSV zero-crossing nearest spot, searched within the expected-move band (spot ± 50 points before EM is set; a lone crossing just beyond its edge is still GF); the smoothed panel value is corroboration, not an override	The regime line and defining anchor of the framework. Above GF the framework reads dealers as gamma long, stabilizing; below GF, as gamma short, amplifying (a convention, Chapter 2).
RT	Resistance Top	Heaviest call concentration in the resistance belt (not drawn when the belt holds no call peak, and RB and DT are then not drawn either)	Top of the primary resistance zone; the belt is the call strikes above PN up to EM+ (before EM is set, up to 50 points above spot). A fade level; a standard short call sits above RT only where it also clears CW, and any concentrated call node within 20 points of the short call, by at least 10 points.
RB	Resistance Bottom	First call concentration above the pin; not drawn when the belt holds no call peak	Bottom of the resistance zone; when the heaviest cluster’s run is itself the first concentration above PN, RB and RT are one cluster and one level. A fade level: the bear call fade sells 5 points above RB, on the second test, with CW at least 10 points beyond its short strike.
ST	Support Top	Dominant put cluster below GF, heaviest strike within 50 points of spot at the time of the print (not drawn when no cluster qualifies, and SB and DB are then not drawn either)	Top of the primary support zone. Bull put short strikes go at or beyond the first strike below it (at or beyond the first strike below PW instead when PW sits above GF), entered while price holds above GF; ST itself sits below GF, so it is not a fade level.
SB	Support Bottom	Next put cluster below ST holding at least a quarter of ST’s combined put gamma; not drawn when none qualifies or ST is not drawn	Bottom of the support zone. Price breaking SB with conviction is a structural warning; below GF, put gamma accelerates the move rather than holding it.
DT	Danger Top	Outermost strike above RT (within EM; before EM is set, spot ± 50 points) with call gamma at least a quarter of RT’s combined call gamma; not drawn when RT is not	Outer upper boundary of the structural map. Beyond DT, gamma thins. Risk profile for short call positions is elevated.
DB	Danger Bottom	Outermost strike below SB (within EM; before EM is set, spot ± 50 points) with put gamma at least a quarter of SB’s combined put gamma; not drawn when SB is not	Outer lower boundary. Beyond DB, put gamma thins and negative-gamma amplification intensifies. Short put positions below DB carry elevated tail risk.
CW	Call Wall	Largest call gamma exposure above spot, current-expiration, volume-weighted CSV	The heaviest structural ceiling on the map. The standard short call clears CW, and any concentrated call node within 20 points of the short call, by at least 10 points; fades at RB or RT are the only exception, and CW must still sit at least 10 points beyond their short strike. A short call at or inside CW sits in the most intense dealer hedging zone, where an approach to CW works against it.
PW	Put Wall	Largest put gamma exposure at or below spot, same CSV (sanity-checked)	The heaviest put concentration at or below spot: a floor while price holds above GF, an accelerant once it breaks. Subject to skew asymmetry: PW proximity carries more weight than equivalent CW distance. Fade-eligible for bull puts only when it sits above GF. When PW sits below EM− (before EM is set, more than 50 points below spot), substitute the nearest put cluster below spot whose heaviest strike sits inside the band and that holds at least a quarter of PW’s put gamma, taking that cluster’s heaviest strike as PW (a single strike, inside the band, never itself substituted), and flag it. If no cluster qualifies, PW stays at the CSV strike, flagged. Re-run at the open from the CSV PW against the EM band.
PN	Pin	Largest total gamma exposure, calls and puts combined	Afternoon magnet. From 1:00 PM, pin confidence degrades when GF sits within 25 points of PN.
EM+	Expected Move Upper	ATM straddle × 0.85 at open; opening price + EM value	Upper boundary of the range the chain priced. A short call inside EM+ must be defended by a named level. GEX levels outside EM+ are valid but contextually distant.
EM−	Expected Move Lower	ATM straddle × 0.85 at open; opening price − EM value	Lower boundary of the range the chain priced. Equidistant from the open with EM+; moves toward it tend to be faster (skew). Read as a probability boundary, not a floor.

Standing rules attached to the levels

The rules below are the framework constraints that flow directly off the level taxonomy. They are restated here as a reference surface. The reasoning behind each rule lives in the chapter named in parentheses.

GF must hold before any iron condor or credit spread entry. Price must be trading above GF, with no three consecutive 1-minute closes below it in the 30 minutes before the decision. No GF hold, no entry. There are no exceptions. This is the first of three required signals (Chapter 16, Section 2; Chapter 7, “GF—the Gamma Flip”).
GF anchors the chart. GF is plotted as a single solid white line in the GEX Levels section of the GEX Suite, and it is the only flip line on the chart. How GF is read (the CSV zero-crossing, with the panel’s smoothed value as corroboration) is settled upstream of the chart (Chapter 7; Prompt 6, Session Framework Load).
Short strikes are placed outside the named GEX level that anchors each side. On the call side, the standard short call clears CW by at least 10 points, and clears by at least 10 points any concentrated call node within 20 points of the short call. On the put side, the short put goes at or beyond the first strike below ST, 5 points below it on SPX, or, when PW sits above GF (the Put Wall is then the nearest named support above the flip), at or beyond the first strike below PW—never at ST. Fades are the only exception: the short strike sits 5 points beyond RB, RT, or PW, with CW still at least 10 points beyond an RB or RT fade’s short strike; a CW fade sells at least 10 points above CW. On XSP, the levels are read from the SPX chain and divided by ten, with strikes rounded outward (Chapter 7; Chapter 15; Chapter 17).
Concentrated versus distributed classification matters for clearance. A dominant call node within 20 points of the short call is concentrated when it is a single strike holding at least 20% of the absolute gamma exposure inside the expected-move band (before EM is set, spot ± 50 points, with the classification re-run against the EM band at the open); the short call must then clear it by a minimum of 10 points. Below that share the gamma is distributed, and standard placement applies. The same test classifies either side’s largest single strike inside the EM band, normally its wall, when structure selection asks whether one side of the map is markedly stronger (Chapter 7; Chapter 15, Section 5).
Put Wall sanity check. When the derived Put Wall sits below EM− (before EM is set, more than 50 points below spot), the analysis substitutes the nearest put cluster below spot whose heaviest strike sits inside the EM band (spot ± 50 points before EM is set) and that holds at least a quarter of PW’s put gamma, takes that cluster’s heaviest strike as PW (a single strike, inside the band, never itself substituted), and flags it. If no cluster qualifies, PW stays at the CSV strike and the notes flag it. At the open the Put Wall sanity check runs again from the CSV-derived PW against the band the EM sets. Whatever PW the check settles on is what the chart carries; the decision is made in the analysis upstream (Chapter 7; Chapter 12).
Pin confidence degrades inside 25 points. From 1:00 PM, if GF sits within 25 points of PN, the pinning force is contested. The framework does not abandon the pin: every exit rule runs as written, and no discretionary hold is begun or extended on a pin-reversion thesis (Chapter 7).
The expected-move band is symmetric; the downside is not. EM+ and EM− sit the same distance from the open, because EM comes from the at-the-money straddle. Skew shows up in speed: moves toward EM− tend to arrive faster and follow through further, so the framework reads the lower half of the band with more caution (Chapter 7, “The volatility smile—why the put side is different”).
Short calls inside EM+ have to be earned by structure. A short call between current price and EM+ is inside the range the market considers probable, so a named level must be doing the defending between price and the strike, with the clearance rules met. The boundary informs the strike; it is not a placement minimum (Chapter 7; Chapter 15).
Expected Move is fixed at the open. EM is the at-the-money straddle priced at the open, multiplied by 0.85 (roughly even odds, Chapter 7), and EM+ and EM− are derived from it and do not update during the session. They are the day’s starting probability frame, not a rolling calculation. Before the open sets EM, every level search that uses the band (GF’s search window, the resistance belt, DT and DB, the Put Wall sanity check) and the 20% concentrated-node test take it as spot ± 50 points, and every level (ST keeps its 50-point window from spot), with the concentrated or distributed classification of each dominant node, is re-confirmed once EM is supplied (Chapter 7).
The envelope breaks on closes, not touches. Three consecutive 1-minute closes outside EM+ block new credit on the call side; outside EM−, the put side. A session range wider than twice the EM blocks all new credit (Chapter 7; Chapter 16).

Reading the map as a system

The ten structural levels and the two expected-move boundaries are not independent data points. The framework reads them as a layered system: the gamma flip first (GF) to establish regime; the resistance and support zones (RT, RB, ST, SB) to identify primary structural anchors; the danger zones (DT, DB) for context on what lies beyond the primary anchors; the walls (CW, PW) for the heaviest structural ceiling and the floor that holds only while price is above GF; the pin (PN) for late-session gravity; and the expected-move boundaries (EM+, EM−) as the probability frame against which the gamma map is read for the day. Reading the levels individually is necessary. Reading them as a system is the skill the framework rewards.

This card is a reference. It is not a substitute for Chapter 7’s full treatment of the taxonomy or for the Session Framework Load prompt’s rule set. When a level’s behavior in a live session does not match what the card describes, the card is summarizing; the chapter and the prompt are authoritative.

A level is not a number. It is a piece of the map, and the map is only useful when every piece is read for what it actually is.