Options dealers hedge their books, and the sign of their net gamma determines how they hedge — which shapes how the whole market moves. There are two regimes, and they behave like different markets (gamma exposure).

Positive gamma: dealers absorb

When dealers are net long gamma (positive), their hedging is stabilizing: they sell into rallies and buy into dips. That dampens volatility — price tends to grind, pin near large strikes, and mean-revert. Ranges hold, breakouts get absorbed, and fading extremes works (pinning and max pain, range trading).

Negative gamma: dealers amplify

When dealers are net short gamma (negative), hedging flips to destabilizing: they buy into rallies and sell into declines — chasing the move. That amplifies volatility. Trends extend, pullbacks accelerate, and fading extremes is dangerous. The biggest, fastest moves happen in negative gamma (how dealer hedging moves price).

Positive gamma is the market's shock absorbers. Negative gamma is the gas pedal. The same news moves a calm tape and a violent one depending on which one's engaged.

The line between them

The boundary is the gamma flip — the level where net dealer gamma crosses zero (the gamma flip). Above it, absorbing; below it, amplifying (roughly). Knowing which side of the flip price is on tells you whether to expect a grind or a trend — and it's exactly the read NoVo Analyst delivers. See why gamma matters for 0DTE.