IWM gamma exposure — latest available snapshot
IWM net gamma exposure was an estimated -$2.63bn per 1% move (negative gamma), from open interest settled on 2026-09-03 · IWM (the iShares Russell 2000 ETF) · estimated zero gamma at $301.69 · last price $294.96 on 2026-09-08 · 1,490 contracts used
Latest available snapshot — open interest settled on 2026-09-03. This is a dated estimate, not a live number. The static page is rebuilt nightly from the latest upstream chain available; the settlement itself may lag the rebuild, intraday volume is not reflected, and gamma positioning can change completely after this date.
What did the 2026-09-03 snapshot show?
Net gamma exposure for IWM was -$2.63bn per 1% move as of 2026-09-03 — a negative gamma regime — with the zero gamma (flip) level estimated at $301.69, +2.28% from the last traded price of $294.96. Gross gamma across the same contracts was $6.20bn, so the net figure was about 42% of the total in size — the rest cancels out between calls and puts. The single largest gamma wall sat at $290.00, carrying 10.4% 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 IWM gamma exposure
The sign first. In the 2026-09-03 snapshot, estimated net GEX for IWM was -$2.63bn per 1% underlying move under the public calls-long, puts-short dealer-position convention, so this was a negative gamma reading. Under that convention, the modelled hedge buys into price rises and sells into declines. That same-direction flow can amplify moves mechanically; it does not predict that the realized range will be wide. This estimate describes modelled hedge mechanics from settled open interest, not observed dealer positions or a price forecast.
Then the distance to the flip. The flip level, also called zero gamma, was $301.69, 2.28% above the settled last price. The two values were 1% to 4% apart in this snapshot. Crossing the modelled boundary would have required a move larger than that recorded gap toward the flip.
Then the concentration. At the largest strike, $290.00, absolute net GEX equaled 10.4% of gross contract-level GEX. Estimated hedging flow was largest near the heaviest strikes, but no hit rate has been measured for how price behaves around them.
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 — a convention, not a measurement — and prices gamma with a simplified Black-Scholes approximation at zero interest rate and zero dividend. Real market-maker books are hedged across futures, other expirations and other products, and nobody outside the firm sees them. No hit rate has been measured for the flip level, any wall, or any other level on this page — what zero gamma means sets out why that boundary describes a volatility regime rather than marking a level. 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 2026-09-03 chain were $290.00 (-$643M per 1% move, 10.4% of the total), $285.00 (-$398M per 1% move, 6.4% of the total), $288.00 (-$257M per 1% move, 4.1% of the total). The centre line is zero net gamma; the estimated flip level was $301.69, and the last traded price was $294.96.
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 | -$643M | 10.4% | -1.68% |
| $285.00 | -$398M | 6.4% | -3.38% |
| $288.00 | -$257M | 4.1% | -2.36% |
| $280.00 | -$252M | 4.1% | -5.07% |
| $286.00 | -$217M | 3.5% | -3.04% |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-08 | -$12M | $222M |
| 2026-09-09 | -$16M | $107M |
| 2026-09-10 | $12M | $87M |
| 2026-09-11 | -$381M | $886M |
| 2026-09-14 | $8M | $26M |
| 2026-09-15 | $22M | $73M |
| 2026-09-16 | -$6M | $14M |
| 2026-09-17 | -$4M | $6M |
| 2026-09-18 | -$1.59bn | $3.30bn |
| 2026-09-25 | -$26M | $81M |
| 2026-09-30 | -$142M | $336M |
| 2026-10-02 | $3M | $78M |
| 2026-10-09 | $14M | $46M |
| 2026-10-16 | -$511M | $941M |
| 2026-10-23 | -$413,905 | $886,620 |
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. Two narrower views of the same file: IWM put/call ratio by expiration with daily history, and IWM open interest with the heaviest strikes named.
Common questions
What was IWM GEX in the latest available snapshot?
Using open interest settled at the close on 2026-09-03, IWM net gamma exposure was -$2.63bn per 1% move — a negative gamma regime — against $6.20bn of gross gamma. The estimated zero gamma (flip) level was $301.69, +2.28% from the last traded price of $294.96.
How is GEX calculated?
GEX, short for gamma exposure, adds up an estimated hedging requirement across every outstanding contract. For each strike, gamma — the rate at which an option's share-equivalent exposure changes as price moves — is priced with a Black-Scholes model at zero interest rate and zero dividend, multiplied by open interest, and summed with calls counted positive and puts negative, following the convention that dealers are long every call and short every put. That convention is an assumption, not a measurement, which is why every figure here is labelled an estimate. The result is stated in dollars of hedging per 1% move.
What is the gamma flip (zero gamma) level?
The gamma flip is the price at which aggregate dealer gamma would cross zero, so the hedging regime switches. Above it, dealers are estimated to be long gamma and their hedging sells rallies and buys dips, which mechanically damps moves. Below it, they are short gamma and hedging does the opposite, which tends to make ranges wider. For IWM in this snapshot the flip sat at $301.69. No hit rate has been measured for this level, so do not treat it as support, resistance or a target.
Can IWM GEX update intraday?
No. GEX is computed from open interest, and the clearing house settles open interest once per trading day. Intraday option volume only becomes open interest at the next settlement, so no GEX figure built on it can be a live intraday reading. Quant Data recomputes IWM GEX nightly and stamps every figure with its date. It is a description of the prior close's positioning, not a trading instruction.
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 zero gamma focuses on the flip level itself: how the crossing is found and why it sometimes does not exist. What is max pain does the same for the expiry-payout calculation. All three start from the same raw input: what is open interest explains how that number is created, destroyed and settled once a day, and why it is not the same thing as volume.
Pointing an AI agent at this? Everything here is static HTML with real tables — no key, no login, no scraping tricks. The JSON version of this page is GET /v1/gamma/{symbol} — any optionable US stock or ETF, with the full by_strike detail, a by_expiration breakdown, and an explicit flip_status when there is no crossing. One $149/month plan covers it and the other three Quant Data endpoints. See the API reference and pricing.
Gamma exposure for other tickers
See every ticker in one table.
This page is rebuilt nightly from the latest available end-of-day open interest and closing quotes, but its values are stamped to 2026-09-03, not build or fetch time. GEX uses a Black-Scholes approximation with zero rate and zero dividend, matching the convention most public trackers use (how we compute it). A derived estimate, not raw market data or a live quote. Educational only: not investment advice, not a recommendation, not a price forecast.
Everything on IWM in one place — the four positioning readings plus what published research said about it — is at /stocks/iwm.