Tech Softens and Yields Surge as Dealers Shift to Short Gamma

Tech stocks retreated into Thursday afternoon as broader markets split and Treasury yields pushed higher. Benzinga reported that eight of eleven sectors declined during Thursday trading, while MT Newswires highlighted afternoon softness across tech equities. Meanwhile, Benzinga reported a major outflow of 3.3 billion dollars from IWM as Treasury yields surged, alongside a move in 10-year yields touching the 5 percent mark. That macro pressure hit equity positioning directly across the major index books. SPY sits at 766.01, sliding just below its gamma flip at 766.07. That puts dealers in a short gamma regime, where hedging flows accelerate intraday directional moves rather than absorbing them. The index options market is pricing an expected move of 0.84 percent, pinned between a call wall at 772 and a put wall at 760 with skew reading at 1. QQQ reflects a similar setup, trading at 739.32 below its gamma flip of 739.57. With dealers positioned short gamma, the expected move widens to 1.17 percent. Overlying resistance rests at the 745 call wall, while downside hedging centers around the 736 put wall and skew sits at 1.5. Small caps showed the sharpest structural shift following the heavy ETF outflows reported by Benzinga. IWM sits at 281.11, trading well below its flip level of 283.03. Dealers hold a short gamma stance here as well, with the expected move priced at 1.33 percent. Downside positioning is tightly clustered near spot at the 280 put wall, while the call wall sits overhead at 289 with skew at negative 0.3. Across SPY, QQQ, and IWM, every major index book sits beneath its zero-gamma line in short gamma territory. With no major corporate earnings reporting on the immediate horizon, dealer hedging flow into market moves remains the primary structural boundary for intraday price action. Whether spot tests underlying put support or reclaims the flip levels remains to be seen as structural volatility stays elevated across all three desks. What you do with these levels is your click.