Net DEX (delta exposure)

Net DEX measures dealer delta exposure by strike: the directional position dealers are effectively holding as a byproduct of the options they've sold, separate from how much they'll need to hedge as price moves. Where GEX describes how forcefully dealers will react to a move, DEX describes which way they're already leaning before that move happens. The two are computed from the same options chain and shown side by side for that reason. One answers how much, the other answers which direction.

A positive net DEX reading means dealers are effectively holding a long-equivalent position at that strike range, and a negative reading means a short-equivalent one. A large negative DEX concentrated just below spot can mean dealers are already positioned in a way that adds selling pressure if price drifts down toward it, on top of the separate gamma-driven acceleration GEX would describe at the same level. Looking at DEX and GEX together gives a fuller picture than either alone: GEX for the hedging reaction, DEX for the standing exposure it's reacting from.

DEX is a modeled figure, not a disclosed position. It's inferred from open interest and pricing across the chain under standard assumptions about dealer positioning, so it won't exactly match any single dealer's actual book. It also changes constantly as new trades print, meaning the reading is a snapshot rather than a running total you can rely on holding steady through the session. And like GEX, it says nothing about non-dealer flow. Retail and institutional buying and selling in the underlying stock happens on top of whatever DEX implies, and can dominate it.

Say a ticker shows net DEX of minus 180,000 deltas concentrated around the 95 to 100 strike range while trading at 97. That reading implies dealers are running a meaningfully short-equivalent position in that band, so a slide toward 95 would tend to see dealer flow add to the pressure rather than cushion it, consistent with whatever the separately-computed GEX profile shows for the same strikes. A reading near zero, by contrast, would suggest dealers are roughly balanced there, with the gamma profile alone doing more of the explanatory work for how price behaves around that level.