SPX PUT/CALL RATIO 1.13 (The numbers reflect options traded during the current session.) A put-call ratio below 0.7 is generally considered bullish, and a put-call ratio above 1.0 is generally considered bearish.

GS Flow Desk: large S&P 31Aug 7000/7950 strangle in roughly $20mm vega / $115mm premium …My Read – classic “big convexity versus carry” trade: either someone paid a lot to own a wide August move, or someone got paid a lot to bet that the S&P stays comfortably inside the 7000–7950 corridor

JHEQX Q3 Collar Short Call Cap: ~7,750 – 7,900 - Long Put Strike: ~7,050 – 7,100 (approx. 5% downside protection) Short Put Strike: ~5,950

DEC2025 OPEX to DEC2026 OPEX is 945 points giving us a range of [5889,7779]

WEEKLY BULL BEAR ZONE 7620/00

WEEKLY RANGE RES 7795/7806 SUP 7595/72

MONTHLY RANGE RES 7838 SUP 7258

DAILY VWAP BEARISH 7710

WEEKLY VWAP BULLISH 7634

MONTHLY VWAP BULLISH 7503

DAILY STRUCTURE - OTFL - 7714

WEEKLY STRUCTURE - BALANCE - 7838.5/7542.75

MONTHLY STRUCTURE - OTFH - 7345.75

Balance: This refers to a market condition where prices move within a defined range, reflecting uncertainty as participants await further market-generated information. Our approach to balance includes favouring fade trades at the range extremes (highs/lows) while preparing for potential breakout scenarios if the balance shifts.

One-Time Framing Higher (OTFH): This represents a market trend where each successive bar forms a higher low, signalling a strong and consistent upward movement.

One-Time Framing Lower (OTFL): This describes a market trend where each successive bar forms a lower high, indicating a pronounced and steady downward movement.

DAILY BULL BEAR ZONE 7735/45

GAP FILL 7766.25

GAMMA FLIP 7691

DELTA FLIP 7705

TECHNICAL EQUALITY OBJECTIVE 7626

DAILY RANGE RES 7755 SUP 7619

2 SIGMA RES 7829 SUP 7551

VIX BULL BEAR ZONE 17.9 (VVIX / VIX) 5.7

TRADES & TARGETS

LONG ON REJECT/RECLAIM OF WBBZ TARGET RTH CLOSE 7691

***ADDITIONAL SETUPS & TARGETS HIGHLIGHTED ON THE CHARTS***

(I FADE TESTS OF 2 SIGMA LEVELS ESPECIALLY INTO THE FINAL HOUR OF THE NY CASH SESSION AS 90% OF THE TIME WHEN TESTED THE MARKET WILL CLOSE ABOVE OR BELOW THESE LEVELS)

GOLDMAN SACHS FICC & EQUITY TRADING DESK VIEWS

US equities ended higher Friday, but the S&P 500 closed down -1.4% on the week. Core drivers: rising long-term yields, mixed consumer earnings, elevated energy prices, and US policy uncertainty.

Cross-Asset & Positioning Insights

Hedge Fund Flows: HFs executed their largest net selloff since April ("Liberation Day"), unwinding long/short positions across single stocks and macro products. Net leverage fell -3 pts to 48.3% (a 1-year low). 9 of 11 sectors were net sold, led by Info Tech, Industrials, Utilities, and Healthcare.
Rates & Trend Followers (CTAs): Long-end yield pressures persist despite Treasury supply announcements. CTAs remain heavily short bonds (~$155m DV01 globally). Downside selling capacity is exhausted, but a 2-sigma rally could trigger ~$150m DV01 in short covering over a month.
Derivatives & Volatility: Extreme factor dispersion under a calm SPX/VIX index surface. Heavy call buying concentrated in IBIT and GLD. Desk favors worst-of SPX/GLD/IBIT calls for upside access at a correlation discount, plus collars/risk-reversals in Financials (XLF, BAC, WFC) and Energy (XOM, GEV).
Factor Dynamics: High Beta Momentum (GSPRHIMO) experienced a sharp drawdown. 12-month vs. 3-month winner overlap sits at multi-year lows, signaling a sharp inner-factor rotation.

Sector & Theme Performance

Theme / Sector	Key Movements & Narrative
Outperformers	Bitcoin Sensitive, Goldminers, BioProcessing. Driven by structural crypto optimism and macro hedging.
Underperformers	NeoClouds, Drones, IPPs, Bond Proxies. Rate-sensitive Utilities and Real Estate were net sold every day via short positions.
TMT & Tech	GS TMT Momentum Pair plunged ~18% (Tue–Fri). High tension over positioning cleanly coming out of July's de-grossing episode.
Consumer	Broad-based weakness led by bellwethers: WMT -9.2% (worst day since May '22) and AAP -25%. Macro giants (WMT, PG, MCD) flag consumer fatigue despite select beats (HD, TGT, ROST).

Key Catalysts for Next Week

S&P 500 Implied Move: 1.31% through Friday, August 28.
Macro: Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, highlighted by Warsh's speech on Friday at 10:00 AM EST.
Micro (Key Earnings):
- Tech/AI Leadership: NVDA (Wed), AVGO, CRDO, DELL, MRVL.
- Software/Services: ZM, INTU (Tue); HPQ, SNPS, OKTA, CRWD, CRM (Wed); WDAY, ESTC, ADSK, ADBE (Thurs).
- Consumer/Retail: ANF, BBWI, SJM, WSM, BBY, BURL, DG, DLTR, ULTA.

Disclaimer: The material provided is for information purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice. The views, information, or opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual or company.

Past performance is not indicative of future results.

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Written by Patrick Munnelly

Patrick has been involved in the financial markets for well over a decade as a self-educated professional trader and money manager. Flitting between the roles of market commentator, analyst and mentor, Patrick has improved the technical skills and psychological stance of literally hundreds of traders – coaching them to become savvy market operators!