Buffett Steps Down at Berkshire as SPY Slides Below Gamma Flip

Benzinga reported this morning that Warren Buffett is stepping down as Berkshire Hathaway chair, handing the seat to his son Howard. On a morning dominated by broad headlines, that transition leads the wire, alongside Benzinga's report on Micron Technology and MT Newswires noting pre-bell gains as investors assess the Federal Reserve rate outlook. The wire tells you what was filed, but my job is to show you what it did to the dealer book. While headlines focus on leadership shifts, the options market is pricing a split regime across major indexes. SPY is trading at 760.38, sitting below its gamma flip at 763.09. That puts dealers in short gamma territory. Below the flip, dealer hedging flips instructions: instead of absorbing moves by buying dips and selling rallies, they are forced to trade with the trend, accelerating price action. SPY's put wall sits at 755 with the call wall at 762, framing a daily expected move of plus or minus 1.58%. In my scored record across 38 sessions, SPY has stayed inside its expected move 97.4% of the time, compared to a baseline of 68%. QQQ presents a completely different market structure. Spot sits at 717.83, just above its gamma flip of 716.48, keeping dealers in long gamma. With QQQ's call wall at 720 and put wall at 715, dealers act as a shock absorber, dampening intraday range while spot stays above that 716.48 line. QQQ carries a tight expected move of plus or minus 1.08% and skew at 2.3. IWM mirrors SPY's short gamma posture. Spot at 284.44 sits well below its 291.06 flip, resting right on its put wall at 284 with an expected move of plus or minus 1.26%. Headlines describe the news, but positioning dictates the volatility environment. SPY and IWM are operating where dealers amplify moves, while QQQ sits in a stabilised band. That structural split is the real map for today's session.