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`HVL`, Call & Put Walls

Every ordered GEX profile is organized around five primary structural levels: the Call Wall (C1), Call Transition (cT), the High Volatility Level (HVL), Put Transition (pT), and the Put Wall (P1), plus secondary walls ranked by gamma size (C2–C6 and P2–P6).

C1Primary call wallRanked by size, not distance from spot

SpotExample price locationSpot can also be inside the transition band or beyond a wall

cTUpper transition boundary

HVLStructural pivotInside the transition band; not necessarily its midpoint

pTLower transition boundary

P1Primary put wallRanked by size, not distance from spot

An illustrative ordered profile. C2 can be nearer to spot than C1; the number identifies rank by size.

High Volatility Level (`HVL`) & transition boundaries

High Volatility Level (HVL) is the structural pivot inside the transition band. Rather than marking the first arbitrary strike where a Net GEX bar flips from green to red—or the simple arithmetic midpoint between walls—HVL is derived from the cumulative Net GEX curve of the selected scope to separate the positive-gamma and negative-gamma regimes.

Above HVL: the upper, positive-gamma side of the profile, where a simplified long-gamma hedging model would lean against price movement (potentially dampening volatility, though never preventing a trend).
Below HVL: the lower, negative-gamma side of the profile, where a simplified short-gamma hedging model would lean with price movement (potentially amplifying intraday swings, though quiet sessions can still occur).
Call Transition (cT) & Put Transition (pT): the upper and lower edges of the transition band surrounding HVL. You reach cT by walking down from the Call Wall toward HVL, and pT by walking up from the Put Wall toward HVL. An ordered profile satisfies P1 ≤ pT ≤ HVL ≤ cT ≤ C1.

If the primary boundaries are out of order, inspect Profile quality before interpreting named zones. See GEX zones & states for how these boundaries define the shaded zones and regime badges.

Call and Put Walls (C1–C6 & P1–P6)

C1–C6 are the strongest positive-Net-GEX strikes above HVL. P1–P6 are the strongest negative-Net-GEX strikes below HVL. Rank is determined strictly by gamma magnitude, not by which strike sits closest to spot.

C1 identifies the dominant call-side wall and P1 identifies the dominant put-side wall. Because ranking follows size rather than distance, price may encounter a nearer C2 or C3 before reaching C1: in that case, C2 is the first strike interaction while C1 remains the largest positive gamma concentration.

Secondary level badges

Alongside the primary walls and transition boundaries, the same classification engine identifies secondary peaks across absolute gamma, open interest, volume, and delta exposure. See Secondary level badges for the exact definition of every badge (including COI vs. nCOI vs. AbOI and CV vs. nCV):

Group	Badges	What they mark
Secondary Gamma Walls	`C2–C6`, `P2–P6`	Ranked positive Net GEX peaks above `HVL` and negative Net GEX peaks below `HVL`.
Abs GEX	`Ab1–Ab3`	Strikes with the largest combined call-gamma plus put-gamma magnitude (not the absolute value of Net GEX).
Open Interest peaks	`COI`, `POI`, `nCOI`, `nPOI`, `AbOI`	Largest call/put OI, net call/put OI, and combined total OI strikes.
Volume peaks	`CV`, `PV`, `nCV`, `nPV`	Largest call/put session volume and net call/put volume strikes (prior session before 9:30 AM ET).
Delta Exposure peaks	`D+`, `D−`	Strikes with the largest positive and negative Net DEX.

What an interaction can look like

A wall is a modeled hedging-pressure zone, not an unbreakable ceiling or floor. Price can stall as it approaches a wall, tag it and mean-revert, consolidate around it, or trade through it into an extension state when order flow overwhelms local gamma.

Wall rankings and locations can shift at the next analytics refresh. A changing wall does not prove that open interest changed intraday: moving spot price, implied volatility, and time decay re-weight gamma across strikes even while reported OI stays static. Compare size, proximity, Confluence, and the expected move together.

Where you see it

GEX Live Chart and GEX Live Table
GEX Matrix cumulative and standalone columns
GEX Profile PRO

TanukiTrade documentation. Levels are context, not a recommendation. tanukitrade.com