SPX 0DTE Put Sweeps Bookend Max Pain; NVDA Earnings Caps Afternoon Upside

Three coordinated put sweeps totaling roughly $197 million hit SPX 0DTE options in the opening minutes of trading, targeting strikes clustered right around today's max pain level at 7675. That kind of concentrated defensive flow at the open is rarely random noise — it signals institutional hedging or directional conviction heading into tonight's NVDA earnings report.

By midday, SPY is trading at 764.79, sitting below its VWAP at 765.75 with all three major indexes printing lower highs and lower lows on the session. The tape is grinding lower in slow motion rather than breaking down, and VIX at 15.62 isn't screaming panic — but positioning, flow, and trend structure all point the same direction: down.