Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff deadline (April 2) is looming, with big implications for traders. This wildcard event could tip sector flows, shift hedging activity, and force institutions to adjust, fast. Yet this market catalyst comes with its own set of risks and opportunities. The difference comes down to how well you can see a setup before it happens.
For those still trading based on valuation or headlines alone, that’s like playing checkers on a chessboard. Successful traders have long known that there is much more behind market movements.
Just take a look at SPX, one of the most liquid market instruments in the world. What caused price to violently retract from intraday highs on March 19 and 20? And why did price suddenly become particularly stable on March 24 after a tumultuous prior two weeks? As our derivative expert friends from SpotGamma write, it’s clear that something else is behind this market — something we’ve been tracking for years: options flows.
So, as part of our ongoing partnership with SpotGamma, and ahead of SpotGamma’s launch of their new and powerful tools – the Synthetic OI Lens and Compass Screener – both of which offer readers option-trading tools which until now were reserved only for Wall Street professionals, they present five options-driven trading insights to “weaponize” right now for those who want to stay sharp, trade with precision, and frontrun the herd.
1. Growth in Options Trading Isn’t Just a Fad. It’s the Market Now.
Next expiry options — better known as 0DTEs — aren’t just for a handful of meme stock speculators anymore. They make up more than 50% of all SPX options volume, up from just 17% in 2020. That means intraday flows are influencing price action more than ever.
And here’s the kicker: 88.5% of all options trading is happening on-exchange and retail.
Translation? The pros are watching your moves. And if you don’t understand how your trades affect hedging flows, you’re the one getting played.
Trading Edge: Monitor 0DTE gamma positioning before the open. SpotGamma’s HIRO and TRACE tools show where dealers are getting pinned, or forced to chase.
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2. Fundamentals Light the Fuse, Options Flows Decide the Blast Radius
Netflix’s post-earnings jump in January? The market expected a 7% move. It ripped 14% higher, directly toward a $1,000 call wall SpotGamma flagged the day before.
“There are large positions up at $1,000… there is enough gamma that NFLX could move more than just 7%” – SpotGamma Founder Brent Kochuba, January 21, 2025
Why was this?
By reading the options market, it was clear that options flows could exacerbate any price movement — with no overhead resistance until the $1,000 strike for NFLX.
Trading Edge: Use SpotGamma’s Equity Hub to track support/resistance levels defined by options open interest — not lagging technicals. If there’s a wall of gamma, you’d better believe price will bounce or stall there.
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3. Market Makers Are the Real Movers
Every option trade needs a hedge, and that hedge moves markets. If 100,000 calls are bought by traders for 0.50 delta contracts, the dealer has to buy 50,000 shares to stay neutral. This is why it’s a good idea to pay attention to monthly options expiration (OPEX). These market makers establish huge positions that often need to be unwound post-OPEX.
What does this mean? Pent-up volatility often is released – and by knowing where market makers are positioned, you can tell which names will be most impacted.
Just last week, we saw SPX reverse after hitting intraday highs on both March 19th and 20th – exactly where dealers had to sell to hedge. That Friday (March 21st) was OPEX, and these positions were closed out. This cleared significant overhead resistance and created room for a 1.7% rally in SPX on March 24th.
Trading Edge: SpotGamma’s HIRO and TRACE tools visualize this in real-time. Learn to read delta and gamma pressure. If you see selling pressure building from dealer hedging, don’t go long into it blindly.
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4. Correlations Are Breaking. So Where Are Trading Opportunity?
It used to be simple: VIX signaled fear, and traders paid attention when it jumped. But that era of tightly coupled movement is fading fast. Why? The predictable relationships that made sense in the past no longer hold true
Today, stocks are moving on their own terms. Sector-based trading is giving way to single-name volatility — and for traders who can spot the breakouts hiding under the surface, this is a major opportunity.
Why this matters for your trading? Volatility and direction are no longer synced across the board, and edge can be found in the names that are out of alignment. This makes it critical to check where your stock falls before you trade it to determine whether it is trading with the market or an outlier.
Trading Edge: When implied volatility is low, but sentiment or skew is shifting fast, it’s often a signal that the market is mispricing risk. And that’s where smart traders strike.
So how do you find these setups before they move?
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5. You’re Not Fighting the Banks Anymore, They’re Coming to Us
For years, institutional desks had exclusive access to the kind of flow data that moves markets. That information edge is now at your fingertips.
SpotGamma’s exciting new tools — the Synthetic Open Interest (OI) Lens and Compass — are leveling the playing field by exposing real positioning, market pressure, and hidden high-conviction setups ahead of each trading day.
Most open interest models assume dealers sell options and hedge passively. But in 2025’s flow-driven market, that’s not good enough.
The Synthetic OI Lens breaks the mold. It tracks actual order flow with enhanced data feeds and SpotGamma’s proprietary classification system, so you know if market makers are really getting long or short, and how market makers are likely to react.
In short, this lens shows whether pressure is building with or against your trade, so you’re not flying blind.
Trading Edge: Use Synthetic OI to spot when large long positions are building at key levels. That’s your cue to size up and ride the dealer flow.
Compass: Pinpoint High-Conviction Setups in Seconds
Compass is SpotGamma’s powerful new tool that maps directional skew vs. volatility across the entire market. You’ll instantly see where options are expensive or cheap and where directional sentiment resides — giving you a constant stream of high-probability setups.
Traders not only need the data, they need to be able to zero-in on opportunities amidst the noise. With Compass, you don’t need to flip through dozens of charts or data tables to access volatility and directional information.
By adding your name to the chart, you can quickly see correlation between names and which stocks may be outliers, giving you critical information to inform your trades
Compass highlights names worth your attention with Guided Mode. Explorer Mode puts you in the driver’s seat to choose which stocks you want to watch.
Trading Tip: Scan for stocks in Compass’s low IV / high bullish skew quadrant. That combo often points to cheap upside trades before the crowd piles in.
See It in Action — Find Your Edge in Any Stock
So for those readers who want to find trades most traders miss, SpotGamma is offering a free webinar on April 2 (just in time for the day’s market rollercoaster) that shows you how. Learn how to find trades others miss, using the Synthetic OI Lens and Compass.
SpotGamma will cover:
- How to uncover real support/resistance using actual positioning—not lagging charts
- Where to find high-reward setups like bullish risk reversals
- How to scan your entire watchlist for volatility shifts in seconds
So for those who want smarter entries, faster trade ideas, and the data edge institutions traditionally kept to themselve, this is one to watch.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 03/31/2025 – 18:00
