Chip Rally Drives Nasdaq as Index Books Hold Long Gamma

Tech stocks led a broad market advance on Monday, driven by a surge in semiconductor shares. MT Newswires reported that equities rose intraday as chip stocks rallied, with Intel soaring 14% to propel the Nasdaq 100 higher. Benzinga reported that Meta added over $200 billion in market value during the session, while AMD joined the trillion-dollar market cap tier. While single-stock tech headlines drove headlines, the underlying index options book reflects a stabilized environment heading into upcoming catalysts. I measure SPY at 773.05, sitting comfortably in a long gamma regime above its 758.20 flip level. The current session prices a tight expected move of ±0.65%, flanked by a call wall at 775.00 and a put wall at 745.00. With spot trading just below the primary upside barrier, dealer hedging activity naturally acts as a buffer against runaway intraday volatility. QQQ displays a similar structural setup, trading at 740.83 against a 713.81 flip level. Long gamma positioning remains dominant, with the expected move priced at ±1.02%. Upside overhead sits at the 745.00 call wall, while downside protection anchors at the 717.00 put wall. Skew sits at 3.6, indicating moderate put demand despite the rally in mega-cap technology names. Small caps mirrored the broader index regime. I measure IWM at 285.62, holding above its 283.47 flip level with an expected move of ±0.97%. The call wall at 288.00 and put wall at 282.00 frame a well-defined range. Across all three major indexes, long dealer gamma forces market makers to buy dips and sell rallies, dampening overall realized volatility as prices approach major call walls.