Market Structure

Posts about flows, dispersion, news/macro impact, and how market plumbing shapes prices.

Get these in your inbox every market day.

How MMs killed the meme squeeze

Two mechanics are doing most of the work. Both live on the vol surface.

SkewVol Surface3 min read

The SPCX vol crush is underway

Following up on the SPCX vol crush thesis.

SkewVol Surface2 min read

What 100% IV on launch day actually means

A market maker pricing the opening chain on a brand-new, retail-loved name has no realised vol history to lean on. He's looking at a flood of one-way call demand coming at him.

Vol SurfaceSingle Stocks2 min read

SpaceX options launch Tuesday. Here's the mechanic.

SpaceX options launch on Tuesday. The setup is worth understanding before the chains open.

SkewVol Surface3 min read

The equity skew finally caught up

Last week I was banging the drum about equity skew being way too cheap.

SkewVol Surface2 min read

When the surface goes parabolic with the spot

A stock rallies 20% in two weeks. Call skew runs from neutral to 7-8 vols into calls. Fixed-strike vol is bid only across the surface.

SkewVol Surface2 min read

The invisible gamma driving these parabolic moves

A market-structure read on why these parabolic moves are getting more violent.

GammaSingle Stocks2 min read

This sounds wrong but it's a reality check

If a big call purchase is a stock-replacement trade, is it bullish or bearish? Bearish. The buyer is reducing his net delta, not adding to it.

Market StructureVol Surface2 min read

Blowout earnings are getting sold. That's a tell.

The NASDAQ rally has at least four tailwinds behind it. Most commentary only names one. Yes, the AI story is real. But look at what else is driving the flow.

Market StructureTrade Structures3 min read

The hidden reason NASDAQ upside keeps getting supported

There's a dynamic impacting vol markets this month and it doesn't get much airtime outside hedge fund desks.

Vol SurfaceMarket Structure3 min read

The spike in implied correlation and what it means

SPX 3-month implied correlation just spiked to 0.40. Realized correlation? Sitting at 0.15.

Vol SurfaceMarket Structure2 min read

$50 billion moves a $50 trillion market

The US stock market is worth $50 trillion. The amount that actually moves it on any given day? About $50 billion. One one-thousandth.

Market StructureHedging2 min read