Here is how the pieces fit across a single session. No predictions, just the read at each stage.
Before the open
Start with the flips. Where is spot relative to the gamma flip (the regime) and the vanna flip (the vol lean)? Mark the nearest walls above and below, and the air pockets between them. Note the IV/RV ratio: normal means trade the structure, an extreme means the vol force is loaded. That is your map before a single candle prints.
The open
Volume decides whether the map matters yet. Overnight and the first minutes are thin, so levels that will hold in real trading can get poked through. The read firms up once real volume arrives.
Through the middle
This is where the regime shows itself:
- Long gamma: price pins, fades the edges, and the walls hold. You are fading toward levels, not chasing.
- Short gamma: moves run, walls get tested, and price hunts for the wall that finally holds.
Underneath it, the vanna drift leans the day. If fear is bleeding out above the flip, expect a grind higher. If it is bleeding out below the flip, expect a slow sag.
Into the close
The charm clock takes over in the last third. As 0DTE decays, the book sheds delta and the desk re-hedges it, which often shows up as a quiet directional drift with no headline behind it.
The whole read
Regime from gamma, drift from vanna and IV/RV, levels from the walls, timing from charm. The map does not tell you what will happen. It tells you how the day is wired to react, which is what you actually trade against.