Educational content only. Not financial advice.

NQ and gold GEX levels for September 21, 2026

The option-positioning levels that were on the desk before the New York open on , for Nasdaq-100 and gold futures, kept exactly as they were computed.


01 / The pre-open run

What the chain said before the open

Read at 08:00 New York time, before the cash open. The fourth column is the part no page about the current session can carry: what each level did against the previous session in the archive.

Nasdaq-100 futures · NQ · one tick = 0.25 points per tick

Level Price Distance from the contract Change from the previous archived session
Contract at the run 30,247.00NQ index points this is the reference price +413.00index points since the previous archived run
Call wall 30,304.00NQ index points +57.00index points · 228 ticks · 0.25 points per tick +441.00index points · 1,764 ticks
Gamma flip 30,114.00NQ index points −133.00index points · 532 ticks · 0.25 points per tick +356.00index points · 1,424 ticks
Put wall 29,463.00NQ index points −784.00index points · 3,136 ticks · 0.25 points per tick +430.00index points · 1,720 ticks
Peak gamma strike 29,463.00NQ index points −784.00index points · 3,136 ticks · 0.25 points per tick −400.00index points · 1,600 ticks
Max pain 29,884.00NQ index points −363.00index points · 1,452 ticks · 0.25 points per tick +519.00index points · 2,076 ticks
Regime Negative gammastate of dealer hedging, not a direction a state, not a distance Positive gamma → Negative gammathe regime changed

Derived from listed QQQ option positioning · all levels within the plausible band

Gold futures · GC · one tick = 0.10 dollars per tick

Level Price Distance from the contract Change from the previous archived session
Contract at the run 4,404.00US dollars per ounce this is the reference price −12.00dollars per ounce since the previous archived run
Call wall 4,952.00US dollars per ounce +548.00dollars per ounce · 5,480 ticks · 0.10 dollars per tick −16.00dollars per ounce · 160 ticks
Gamma flip 4,229.00US dollars per ounce −175.00dollars per ounce · 1,750 ticks · 0.10 dollars per tick −136.00dollars per ounce · 1,360 ticks
Put wall 3,686.00US dollars per ounce −718.00dollars per ounce · 7,180 ticks · 0.10 dollars per tick −619.00dollars per ounce · 6,190 ticks
Peak gamma strike 4,952.00US dollars per ounce +548.00dollars per ounce · 5,480 ticks · 0.10 dollars per tick +536.00dollars per ounce · 5,360 ticks
Max pain 4,402.00US dollars per ounce −2.00dollars per ounce · 20 ticks · 0.10 dollars per tick −14.00dollars per ounce · 140 ticks
Regime Positive gammastate of dealer hedging, not a direction a state, not a distance Unchangedsame as the previous archived session

Derived from listed GLD option positioning · all levels within the plausible band


02 / Later runs

The same session, read again at 11:00 and 14:00

Positioning moves during a session; these are the later reads of the same chain

Contract and run Gamma flip Call wall Put wall
NQ · 11:00 ET 30,016.00NQ index points 30,526.00NQ index points 29,072.00NQ index points
NQ · 14:00 ET 29,877.00NQ index points 30,724.00NQ index points 29,063.00NQ index points
GC · 11:00 ET 4,271.00US dollars per ounce 4,950.00US dollars per ounce 4,290.00US dollars per ounce
GC · 14:00 ET 4,275.00US dollars per ounce 4,951.00US dollars per ounce 4,291.00US dollars per ounce

Three runs, three timestamps taken from the data files themselves. None of them was recorded while the session was open to the reader.


03 / The zone

What was on the chart, and what it did

These are the supply and demand zones the indicator had drawn on the Nasdaq-100 chart that session, with the grade each one carried when the chart was read. The grade is decided before price arrives, which is the only order in which it means anything; what the grade describes, and what it cannot, is on the Zone Score page. Near and far edge are stated against the contract price below, which is the reading that placed each zone above or below it.

The contract when these zones were placed
30,509.75 NQ index points, read at 11:00 Eastern.
The nearest supply above the contract
near edge 30,566.25, far edge 30,636.00 NQ index points. Graded 4 out of 7.
The nearest demand below the contract
near edge 30,506.75, far edge 30,453.50 NQ index points. Graded 3 out of 7.

The five sessions that follow this one have not been read yet. Each is added here as it happens, with its date, and nothing already written is changed.


04 / The episode

What was said that morning

No episode was recorded for this session. The episodes that do exist are on the market prep page.


05 / Provenance

Where these numbers came from

Every level on this page is a strike of a listed option chain, converted to the futures contract with the ratio between the two at the moment of the run. The mechanism, and what it cannot do, is on the page that explains these levels. What the archive holds, which sessions are missing from it and why, is on the record. If you want the method the zones come from, it is the paid course.

Nasdaq-100 futures
ratio 42.090 NQ index points per 1.00 US dollar of QQQ; QQQ at 718.64 US dollars; 1.43 puts per call; net gamma exposure -379.82M.
Gold futures
ratio 11.004 US dollars per ounce per 1.00 US dollar of GLD; GLD at 400.25 US dollars; 0.53 puts per call; net gamma exposure 619.13M.
Archived from
The run of , kept as computed and not revised since.