Gamma Exposure Heatmap: QQQ by Strike and Expiration
Net dealer gamma in dollars per 1% move on the QQQ ETF, split by strike and by expiry, from daily-settled Cboe open interest updated each session. QQQ options are American-style with physical delivery, unlike cash-settled European SPX. Free, no signup.
As of 2026-09-11, SquawkFlow computes total QQQ dealer gamma at -5.0B per 1% move with spot at $706.90. The grid below covers 25 strikes nearest spot across 10 expirations, drawn from 11,686 contracts spanning 31 expiries in the full chain.
This total is summed from the gamma published with each contract on the delayed Cboe chain, across every expiration dated today or later. The SPX total on the /gex levels page is a different book, where every contract is re-priced with Black-Scholes at the evaluation spot from an archived implied volatility surface, so the two totals are not directly comparable. Both derive from daily-settled Cboe open interest.
Dealer positioning is an assumption, not an observable: open interest shows that a contract exists, never which side a dealer holds. Machine-readable version.
Building on this data? Welcome, it is free to reuse with attribution (a visible link to squawkflow.com). The open dataset updates every trading day and is more stable than parsing this page; questions via contact.
| Strike | All | 09/11 0DTE | 09/14 3d | 09/15 4d | 09/16 5d | 09/17 6d | 09/18 7d | 09/21 10d | 09/22 11d | 09/23 12d | 09/25 14d |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 719 | +34M | -4M | · | · | · | · | +26M | · | · | · | +10M |
| 718 | -99M | +7M | · | · | · | · | -22M | · | · | · | -80M |
| 717 | +48M | +47M | · | · | · | · | +15M | · | · | · | +2M |
| 716 | -50M | -48K | · | · | · | · | +4M | · | · | · | -715K |
| 715 | -153M | +5M | -15M | -13M | -4M | -8M | -42M | -959K | -970K | -504K | -20M |
| 714 | -55M | -35M | · | · | · | · | -13M | · | · | · | +355K |
| 713 | -24M | -11M | · | · | · | · | -7M | · | · | · | -2M |
| 712 | -128M | -53M | · | · | · | · | -54M | · | · | · | -990K |
| 711 | -44M | -14M | · | · | · | · | -22M | · | · | · | +1M |
| 710 | -213M | -80M | -30M | -9M | -6M | +831K | +47M | -4M | -842K | -958K | -9M |
| 709 | -38M | -20M | · | · | · | · | -6M | · | · | · | -2M |
| 708 | -78M | -65M | · | · | · | · | -4M | · | · | · | -914K |
| 707SPOT | -38M | -16M | · | · | · | · | -16M | · | · | · | +391K |
| 706 | -28M | -19M | · | · | · | · | -6M | · | · | · | -1M |
| 705 | -912M | -439M | -9M | -77M | -3M | -2M | -98M | -3M | -1M | -486K | -11M |
| 704 | -58M | -26M | · | · | · | · | -8M | · | · | · | -21M |
| 703 | -38M | -24M | · | · | · | · | -10M | · | · | · | -2M |
| 702 | -32M | -18M | · | · | · | · | -4M | · | · | · | -2M |
| 701 | -37M | -29M | · | · | · | · | -2M | · | · | · | -2M |
| 700 | -1.3B | -184M | -19M | -24M | -8M | -3M | -552M | -2M | -917K | -491K | -24M |
| 699 | -30M | -17M | · | · | · | · | -3M | · | · | · | -923K |
| 698 | -51M | -38M | · | · | · | · | -8M | · | · | · | -997K |
| 697 | -40M | -27M | · | · | · | · | -10M | · | · | · | -315K |
| 696 | -34M | -8M | · | · | · | · | -7M | · | · | · | -1M |
| 695 | -497M | -73M | -14M | -6M | -5M | -3M | -155M | -611K | -2M | -660K | -13M |
| Net | -5.0B | -1.1B | -90M | -136M | -29M | -19M | -1.3B | +1M | -9M | +6M | -678M |
- Dealers are net short about $5.0B of gamma per 1% move, so their hedging trades in the same direction as price; this state has historically meant faster, trend-prone sessions.
- About 32% of the near-term gamma on this grid expires today, so whatever pinning or momentum it creates resets at the close.
- Below 705 the strike totals turn negative, meaning a move through that level would meet hedging that chases the move instead of absorbing it.
- Time decay alone shifts the aggregate dealer hedge by about $2.2B of index delta per day, and rebalancing that drift implies steady mechanical buying, heaviest into the close.
- Today's volume is concentrating at 710 rather than the overnight structure at 713; if that persists to settlement, tomorrow's map shifts toward the new strike.
- Since the prior session's settlement, open interest at 655 grew by 20,675 contracts, the largest overnight change on this grid; those added positions carry gamma at that strike for as long as they stay open.
Composed from the numbers on this page, not opinion: each sentence restates one figure on this page and its mechanical consequence. Descriptive only, never advice.
How to read it
Scan down a column to see where hedging is concentrated for one expiration. Scan across a row to see whether a strike matters today or only later in the month. The All column is the strike summed across every expiration in the chain, which is the number a conventional gamma chart would show you on its own.
The near-dated columns dominate in absolute size, and that is real rather than a display artefact: gamma rises steeply as expiration approaches for strikes near the money. Each column is therefore shaded against its own range, so a quiet expiry stays readable next to a loud one. Compare tint within a column, never across two.
QQQ strikes are quoted in one-dollar increments near the money, so the grid is denser than the five-point SPX ladder. Each column is still shaded against its own range.
Questions
- What does this QQQ gamma heatmap show?
- Net dealer gamma exposure in dollars per 1% move in the Invesco QQQ ETF, split by strike (rows) and expiration date (columns). The grid is built from daily-settled Cboe open interest, updated each session. Positive cells mean dealers are estimated to be long gamma at that strike and expiry; negative cells mean short gamma.
- How is QQQ different from the SPX heatmap on this site?
- QQQ options are American-style on an ETF with physical delivery at exercise. SPX options are European-style on a cash-settled index. QQQ lists dense weekly and monthly cycles around Nasdaq-100 exposure. Strikes are quoted in one-dollar increments near the money, so the grid is tighter than the five-point SPX ladder.
- Why does QQQ have so many expiration columns?
- QQQ is one of the most actively listed ETF option chains, with multiple weeklies and standard monthlies. The heatmap shows the nearest expirations, capped for readability. Each column is shaded against its own range because gamma near expiration dominates in absolute size.
- How are the numbers calculated?
- For every QQQ contract: gamma multiplied by open interest, by the 100-share contract multiplier, by spot squared, by 0.01, which converts to dollars of delta per 1% move in the ETF. Calls are counted positive and puts negative under the standard dealer-sign convention. Values are summed per strike and expiration across the full chain.
- Is dealer positioning actually known?
- No. Open interest shows that a contract exists, not which side a dealer holds. Every published gamma figure inherits the assumption that dealers are long calls and short puts against customer flow. Treat the grid as a map of where hedging pressure would concentrate if that convention holds.
- What are the charm and vanna numbers?
- Charm is dollar delta the estimated dealer hedge sheds per day from time decay; vanna is dollar delta gained per one-point rise in implied volatility. Both are Black-Scholes model outputs summed with the same dealer sign convention as gamma. Same-day expiries dominate charm because it scales with one over time-to-expiry.
- What is overnight open interest change?
- The net change in contracts open at each strike between the two most recent daily settlements, summed across expirations and both calls and puts. Open interest is published once per session after the close, so this compares settlement snapshots only. Intraday opens and closes never appear until the next settlement.
- How often does the data refresh?
- The page revalidates every five minutes. The underlying figures are daily-settled Cboe open interest, updated each session after settlement, not an intraday tape.