IWM gamma exposure today
IWM (the Russell 2000 small-cap ETF) · dealer gamma estimated from the option chain at the close on 2026-07-23 · last price $291.17 on 2026-07-24 · 1,206 contracts used
What is IWM gamma exposure today?
IWM net gamma exposure is -$3.01bn for every 1% move, which is a negative gamma regime, measured from the option chain at the close on 2026-07-23. Gross gamma across the same contracts is $4.69bn, so the net figure is about 64% of the total in size — the rest cancels out between calls and puts. The estimated gamma flip level, where the regime would switch sign, is $299.90, which is +3.00% from the last traded price of $291.17. The single largest gamma wall sits at $290.00, carrying 19.9% of all the gamma in the chain. In plain terms: the dealers on the other side of these options are estimated to be net short gamma, so their hedging sells weakness and buys strength, which mechanically makes moves travel further. This is an estimate of positioning built from public open interest, not a look inside anyone's book.
How to read this IWM configuration
The sign first. Net GEX is -$3.01bn, so this is a negative gamma reading. Negative gamma is the jumpy regime. A rally forces dealers to buy more shares to stay hedged and a sell-off forces them to sell more, so the hedging flow leans in the same direction the market is already going. The practical effect is wider ranges, faster afternoons, and moves that keep going instead of fading.
Then the distance to the flip. The flip level is $299.90, 3.00% above the last price. That is a moderate cushion. It would take a meaningful move — more than a routine session, less than a shock — to cross into the other regime, so the current reading has some staying power without being locked in.
Then the concentration. One strike, $290.00, holds 19.9% of the chain's gamma. That much in one place matters: hedging activity intensifies as price approaches it, which is why heavy strikes often look like magnets or speed bumps on the chart. It also means the whole GEX picture would change materially the moment that one expiration rolls off.
What this number is not. Public GEX is a model on top of a guess. It uses end-of-day open interest, assumes every call is long for the dealer and every put is short, and prices gamma with a simplified Black-Scholes approximation. Real market-maker books are hedged across futures, other expirations and other products, and nobody outside the firm sees them. Read this as a description of the volatility environment, not as advice, and never as a reason to buy or sell.
Net gamma by strike
■ positive gamma (hedging leans against the move) ■ negative gamma (hedging leans with the move) — strikes near the last price. Bar height is the estimated dollar hedging requirement per 1% move at that strike.
Text version of this chart
The largest gamma concentrations for IWM in the 2026-07-23 chain are $290.00 (-$933M per 1% move, 19.9% of the total), $285.00 (-$432M per 1% move, 9.2% of the total), $280.00 (-$279M per 1% move, 5.9% of the total). The centre line is zero net gamma, the estimated flip level is $299.90, and the last traded price was $291.17.
Gamma walls
The strikes carrying the most gamma. "Share" is that strike's slice of all the gamma in the chain, so a handful of rows adding up to a large share means the hedging is concentrated in a narrow band of prices.
| Strike | Net GEX per 1% | Share of gamma | From last price |
|---|---|---|---|
| $290.00 | -$933M | 19.9% | -0.40% |
| $285.00 | -$432M | 9.2% | -2.12% |
| $280.00 | -$279M | 5.9% | -3.84% |
| $287.00 | -$262M | 5.6% | -1.43% |
| $289.00 | -$215M | 4.6% | -0.75% |
Gamma by expiration
Which expirations hold the exposure. Short-dated contracts usually carry most of the gamma, which is why the whole picture can reset the day after a big expiry.
| Expiration | Net GEX per 1% | Gross gamma |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-24 | -$669M | $938M |
| 2026-07-27 | -$265M | $320M |
| 2026-07-28 | -$47M | $101M |
| 2026-07-29 | -$29M | $99M |
| 2026-07-30 | -$65M | $100M |
| 2026-07-31 | -$1.01bn | $1.31bn |
| 2026-08-03 | $4M | $54M |
| 2026-08-04 | -$1M | $6M |
| 2026-08-05 | $2M | $8M |
| 2026-08-07 | -$42M | $200M |
| 2026-08-14 | -$98M | $150M |
| 2026-08-21 | -$759M | $1.35bn |
| 2026-08-28 | -$31M | $58M |
The expiry view of the same IWM chain
Gamma exposure is about what happens every day as price moves. Max pain is about one moment: the settlement price that would pay option holders the least. They come from the same open interest and often point at different levels. See IWM max pain for that side, and max pain vs gamma exposure for what it means when the two disagree.
New to this? Start here
What is gamma exposure builds the idea from one option and one hedge, with the arithmetic written out, then explains why every public GEX number is an estimate. What is max pain does the same for the expiry-payout calculation.
Pointing an AI agent at this? Everything here is static HTML with real tables — no key, no login, no scraping tricks. For machine-readable data on price action rather than options, Quant Data sells two JSON endpoints: Brooks Daily Bias and Weis Wave, with hit rates and failure cases published on pricing.
Gamma exposure for other tickers
Gamma exposure is computed nightly from end-of-day open interest and closing quotes using a Black-Scholes approximation with zero rate and zero dividend, matching the convention most public GEX trackers use (how we compute it). A derived estimate, not raw market data and not a live quote. Educational only: not investment advice, not a recommendation, not a price forecast.