Gamma exposure shows up in two forms on a dealer map, and confusing them costs you information. One is a single number; the other is a shape.

Net GEX: the regime in one number

Net GEX is the whole book summed into one figure. Its sign is the headline: strongly positive means dealers are net long gamma and the tape should dampen and mean-revert; negative means short gamma and moves amplify. It's the weather report — which market you're in today — and it's the first thing to read before any trade.

GEX by strike: the map

GEX by strike is the profile — how gamma is distributed across prices. That shape is where the structure lives: the peaks are the call and put walls, the zero-crossing is the gamma flip, and the clustering shows whether a wall is a single line or a stacked zone. The net number tells you the regime; the profile tells you where in price the regime acts.

Net GEX is the weather. GEX by strike is the terrain. You trade the terrain, but only after you've checked the weather.

Using them together

Read them in order. First net GEX for the regime — fade-or-chase, pin-or-run. Then the by-strike profile for the levels — where the walls and flip sit so you know your targets and invalidations. A negative net GEX with price sitting under a broken put wall is a very different trade than a positive net GEX pinned between two walls. NoVo's map shows both the headline regime and the full profile so you're never reading one without the other.