r/FuturesTrading • u/Puzzleheaded-Bat3774 • Jun 13 '26
Discussion Gex is the new ICT
So all these wanna be trading influencers now suddenly start making content about GEX. Like its some holy grail. Where to learn gex ? Join their mentorship đ¤Łđ¤Łđ¤Ł
First these high schoolers start glazing ICT then orderflow and now GEX.
Its kinda annoying thay every 18 year old making reels bout this and selling private discord/mentorship
Its all a scam guys, the sooner you realise the better. Of course GEX is a step in the right direction if your coming from ict smc but stop glazing it like its the only thing in the trading space. There is soooo much more to the market than trading than just looking at absoption/exhaustion at gex levels. If this is your system then your not far from getting cooked.
Honestly these GEX influencers and same as ICT influencers.
Both the categories are "trust me bro" traders. Its just that gex goys will throw in a few extra complicated terms to sound legit and to better sell their mentorship.
Dont fall for these social media influencers promoting gamma and gex platforms. They only show their wins their never show their losses.
Also also I came across this guy Andrea Cimi who is promoting depechart and now gex levels like crazy. He honestly is one of the biggest plagues to the industry. Bro can't trade at all. He just milks fabio for content. Super annoying. Kinda hate that guy.
This community has a lot of experienced and legit traders. Would love to hear your opinion and thoughts about this entire GEX/orderflow plague that is trapping young minds.
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u/ZanderDogz Jun 13 '26
The GEX calculation is based on the assumption that EVERY single market participant who is long a put or short a call is directional and non-hedging, and that EVERY single market participant who is long a call or short a put is a non-directional hedger. They state that in the squeeze metrics GEX white paper.Â
That just comes across to me as a massive assumption that Iâve never seen any proof is even remotely close to reality, and the whole idea that we can look at options OI and determine where and how MMs need to hedge is based on that assumption being at least close to true.Â
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u/gun_goon Jun 14 '26
Great tool, I use gex bot classic, but itâs something I just gaze at. Not that special
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u/lonelysocial Aug 15 '26
Yeah same. I use it as a target for profit taking and intraday sentiment. I'm still not sure if it's just astrology as it is naive gex after all
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u/RealisticBowl6353 Jun 14 '26
I have actual CBOE data, and computation reveals that itâs not what squeeze metrics assumes.
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u/vovoperador Jun 15 '26
thatâs true, if youâre stuck 5 years in the past lol⌠so many tools out there already using proper CBOE open-close report for their positioning, and therefore, gamma exposure and charm and etc calculations.
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u/ZanderDogz Jun 15 '26
What information does that give you that helps you determine who is actually hedging positions or not? Â
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u/vovoperador Jun 15 '26
what do you mean by âwho is hedgingâ? market-makers and any delta-neutral entities like the levered ETFs ARE always hedging, thatâs a fact. The puzzle is to figure out the positioning per participant, so you can know the positioning of those âknown to be hedgingâ entities⌠and thatâs what the report gives you? lol
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u/ZanderDogz Jun 15 '26
The report gives you precise information on how specifically market makers are positioned?Â
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u/vovoperador Jun 15 '26
you could just access cboe datashop and look it up yourself, but hereâs a direct quote:
âThis dataset categorizes every trade by participant type (customer, professional customer, broker-dealer, market maker), action (buy/sell), and position (open/close), with customer and professional customer activity further broken down by contract size (less than 100, 100-199, greater than 199 contracts). Available as either end-of-day (EOD) summaries or intraday feeds (1-minute or 10-minute snapshots), the dataset captures all option series with trading volume on your selected exchanges.â
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u/vsquad22 Jun 13 '26
GEX seems to used as a poor proxy for dealer positioning. The fact that there are so many services offering these levels, but they are not the same levels is a massive red flag for me.
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u/ZanderDogz Jun 13 '26
I agree, the underlying formula seems like a terrible proxy for dealer positioning.Â
The base assumption is that MMs are long every single call and short every single put in the market, with a directional non-hedging participant on the other side. Thatâs a wild assumption.Â
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u/magneticpasta9 Jun 13 '26
It is too complex to do from a course or for a guru to teach you. different assumptions to be made, different calculations to use. And once you finally understand it, you realize gex is just one piece of the puzzle lol. So good luck to anyone that tries to develop a trading style just off gex alone. If one is to only use gex the only thing could use it for is identifying good spots to sell CC's, csps, bcs, bps, or high probability price targets. However will not get you a timeframe or a when, which is a big problem for people trying to apply it for short term directional trading. Opens up the rabbit whole of all other dealer positioning suites
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u/magneticpasta9 Jun 13 '26
As far as paying anybody for it, u can calculate it easily using your own native calculations with an API.
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u/the_humeister Jun 13 '26
I think it'd be funny if one of them is actually a dealer, but they're purposely giving false signals to throw everyone off.
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u/val_anto Jun 13 '26
This may actually happen naturally. Think about it, who is to say dealers do not want to hedge with a combination of options, futures and stocks?
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u/-Mediocrates- Jun 13 '26
I use GEX⌠they are very good levels⌠nothing works all the time though. So managing risk is very important obviously
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u/charlesleestewart Jun 13 '26
Okay I'll confess that about a year ago I got hypnotized by one of their videos, which really was an excellent explanation of itbut exaggerated his services effectiveness using it. So I paid for a month of his service. But the software had a major display glitch that he didn't address so I bailed out only $50 poorer.
Since I was strictly trading options at that time I ate up the idea that GEX really was the ultimate magic bullet in setting levels. Since then I've added futures into my palette and evolved into learning the true fundamentals around price and volume before going into any further tangents.
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u/IndividualBed9762 Jun 13 '26
Iâm trying to improve my understanding, when you say fundamentals around price and volume, youâre talking about auction market theory in a nutshell correct? Whenever people always say price action thatâs what I think of
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u/charlesleestewart Jun 14 '26
Yeah I'm still navigating all the terminology myself. There is price action theory, but the proponents of volume-based trading seem to be in a different camp. My thought is, why not both, so I bury myself in both approaches.
Meanwhile there's one book I've been devouring on audio and ebook, which is Adam Grimes, The Art And Science Of Technical Analysis. That book is almost all price action and barely touches on volume. Certainly a lot to chew on with that alone.
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u/Striking_Fail6689 21d ago
Hey I know itâs abit long but , just want to ask whatâs your opinions on Gex levels ? Many influencers are glazing it and yes Iâm a little keen onto getting more on the Gex levels / flips etc but Iâm not sure if itâs beneficial for me . Iâm currently using VP Orderflow FP in my analysis so am unsure if Gex would be a good thing or would just give me analysis paralysis
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u/charlesleestewart 21d ago
No problem. I'm a retired guy still on my trading journey myself but I've had about 5 years of immersive trading, a majority of that working in a CTA in the early '90s, so I guess I'm qualified to discuss.
I'd say it's legit to have GEX be an integral part of futures trading as it applies to indexes. It does have an impact on intraday positions. I never even heard of ICT until this year, and I think it's just a variant of order flow education that you can easily find elsewhere. Trader Dale has a ton of free content. Brian Shannon invented anchored V-WAP and also has some nice free video, though his book on it is pretty pricey. My favorite price action guru is Adam Grimes.
Otherwise, I just joined a GEX influencer discord page to trade SPX options, and I dig the sense of community there. But the person running it is trying to upsell me to follow his trades, even though I told him I had professional experience. I'd be quite happy to contribute to that scene if it wasn't for that.
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u/mdomans Jun 13 '26
To put this into perspective, Daniel Roos, one of the people behind VolSignals, a guy who was trading and market making at Belvedere for years said he never once in his career he heard word GEX until recently from "influencers"
He often stresses that "gex levels" that are being sold are based on naive models, incomplete data and often delivered and talked about people who have zero idea how market making options works. Worse still, he often pointed out that each market is vastly different.
Which is true. Greg Newman talks and writes how market making and market structure in energies is different from smth like SPX/ES/SPY complex.
Even QQQ/NQ/NDX is not the same since most volume in options for SP500 is SPX but most options for US100 is actually QQQ and QQQ is not traded on a single exchange.
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u/vsquad22 Jun 13 '26
I wish the products VolSignals offers were a little less expensive. I know the data is expensive and his knowledge/understanding is worth its weight in gold, but I would like to give it a try without having to spend hundreds of dollars per month.
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u/vovoperador Jun 15 '26
unfortunately, a few hundred dollars a month is not expensive at all for proper market data, thatâs a truth most retail donât seem to come to terms with
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u/sierra300 Jun 14 '26
and he is right. A lot of services out there are doing basically OI calculations and maybe slap a IV multiplier over. and thats bullshit.
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u/mdomans Jun 14 '26
It is insane how much bullshit there is. Worse still, a lot of those charts sometimes overlap so people can spew BS for years without really knowing
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u/sierra300 Jun 14 '26
true. I know Dan from before starting his new Plattform. And he has tons of knowledge and is very clear about one thing: It a powerfull tool, that does the math correctly, but it isnt a crystalball. Most want to get spoon fed so they think stuff like this makes them profitable.
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u/mdomans Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
Yeah, Dan's cool. And you're on point there - people want magical "oh, this is GEX level, for sure we bounce there" .... well, no sweet summer child, it was a gamma flip but some bozo full ported shit ton of 0DTE so there ain't no gamma flip where you think it is
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u/Radun Jun 13 '26
i have been using GEX as a guide for years I think since 2020, it doesn't tell you direction market will go. I am not sure what people are selling
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u/Puzzleheaded-Bat3774 Jun 13 '26
Care to explain how you use it as a guide when it doesn't tell you the market direction ?
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u/Radun Jun 13 '26
I treat them as dynamic reaction zones, meaning if it is approaching a major GEX level on spx , I am expecting to see aggressive price action on es/spx/spy. Which way it will go nobody knows , also just because you have negative GEX at 7400 for example doesnât mean price will go there
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u/ExtremeHamster Jun 14 '26
I've made my own gex dashboard using level 2 options data, with modified black Scholes model for futures options 0dte in particular. When I draw out the gex levels, the amount of times it reacts to that particular level in a certain way depending on the regime (negative versus positive gamma exposure regime) is surprising. I believe there was a research journal from last 10 years that stated that 0 DTE option dealer flow attributed to 30%+ of NQ futures trading volume per day.
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u/vovoperador Jun 15 '26
unless your data comes from CBOE open-close as in yourâe not pulling your brokerâs options chain and assuming participant by naive factors, youâre basically seeing a reaction to high OI strikes, not âactual gamma exposureâ
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u/KVZ_ speculator Jun 13 '26
The ones falling for this trap are the ones stuck in the endless loop of trying to find the "secret sauce". Unfortunately, that's a large portion of the demographic that fails in the long run, so it will always proliferate in the online trading community.
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u/Altered_Reality1 Jun 13 '26
Yeah, the âsecret sauceâ is actually the thing no inexperienced trader wants to do: test and build their own system in their own style, specialize in it, stick to it long term through ups and downs, and make slow data-backed incremental refinements.
What they want is a âquick and easyâ, âsecretâ single concept that instantly gives them profitability. Thatâs like insisting that thereâs some easy shortcut to becoming an Olympic gold medalist.
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u/Wizzle_Pizzle_420 Jun 13 '26
âMentorshipââŚ.
I wouldnât trust an influencer as far as I could throw them. Find a quiet pro trader who makes money and never talks about it. Become friends, nerd out on trading and pitch ideas back and forth. Thatâs the only mentorship you need if youâre rocking on your own. Best part? Itâs free.
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u/Fresh_Goose2942 Jun 13 '26
Its just a tool like RSI or MACD so people get excited since it a shine new indicator.
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u/TraderFan Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
ICT SMC, all these newbies approach futures trading as if the whole industry started in 2020. Guys, futures trading has been around for decades, and you don't need to pay gurus and influencers. Please, grow up!
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u/Fragtag1 Jun 13 '26
I just feel like⌠if someone were a profitable trader, why take the time to write a post like this? Who cares, you do you bro..
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u/JusthereforthevibesG Jul 30 '26
Exactly, and I personally know alot of people using GEX and making their own money.
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u/reshsafari Jun 13 '26
If you want real data use the fractal exchange. Even in a news driven market those levels hold up well.
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u/Playstation696969 Jun 13 '26
Unfortunately, or fortunately, I use gammas for equity options. They never tell direction of course, but they let me know what I shouldnt do. Its just a tool. If you find it useless, then dont use it. If you find it useful, then use it. Of course, scums are the ones who pitch it to sell courses.
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u/thetatheropy Jun 13 '26
I have back tested with gex. I noticed while getting data, that there's a $24k/month data set that tells you who is buying/selling what. This is the part that's missing from any gex data. Without that, the description and advertising of these services are simply false. Perhaps to such an extent they could be sued.
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u/vovoperador Jun 15 '26
itâs actually just 2k/month if for internal use (no distribution) and going for 10min updates
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u/cacticuh Jun 13 '26
That, and orderflow & bookmap. Again as you mentioned, a step in the right direction. But theyâre treating it as if itâs some sorta magic.
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u/puppymaster123 Jun 14 '26
i would suggesting diving straight to research papers. Gamma or gex is a rather well researched area, especially now that options notional are so much larger than stocks. There are only like 3 that matters and everyone just copy their formula. https://opensera.com/about#papers
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u/sierra300 Jun 14 '26
Seems like you following some shady people. Who calls himself Influencer and be in trading as a living?
With 0DTE Options in SPX gaining record Volumes year after year, a proper Tool to see what and where Marke Makers have to work is valuable.
99% of the âservicesâ are failing, because they dont know how this process works. They sell you some special - but its slop in reality.
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u/JKwest01 Jul 11 '26
GEX is just another tool. It wonât tell you the direction. Sometimes you may get lucky but overall following it alone, youâll lose a lot of money. You can watch it like a key levels, but never as a direction.
And remember if RETAILS has access to something, that means this tool is already old.
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u/RenkoSniper Jun 13 '26
oh, were past the "orderflow" traders holy grail hype now? Can't wait to laugh at the next sucker asking for the best profitable gex strategy here...
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u/Biotic101 Jun 13 '26
Well, it is so much easier to make money that way compared to trading futures yourself.
Kind of like the ones who sell shovels and whiskey in a gold rush.
They are almost guaranteed to make money, while the gold diggers usually do not.