Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:11 PM ET

EQIX max pain

Spot (delayed)$964.22
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$1,000+3.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$104.4±10.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.872K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$1,140largest call OI
Put wall$400largest put OI
IV3038.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2.0Mper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$1,000+3.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$1,000+3.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$990+2.7%81d
Fri, Feb 19$930-3.5%116d
Fri, Mar 19$1,000+3.7%144d
Thu, Jun 17$990+2.7%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1000380636892114814041660$102M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 1000 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot100038062086099010901320324324
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EQIX open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

Open-interest change: building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration; the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1000380620860990109013206767
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot380636892114814041660123%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot540780920100010801160+$609K−$609K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.368600.00201.00-0.37-0.20
0.76-0.408800.00231.13-0.41-0.24
0.71-0.439000.00251.24-0.44-0.29
0.66-0.459200.00281.34-0.46-0.34
0.63-0.469300.00291.38-0.47-0.37
0.60-0.479400.00301.41-0.48-0.40
0.57-0.479500.00301.43-0.48-0.43
0.54-0.489600.00311.45-0.48-0.46
0.51-0.489700.00311.46-0.48-0.49
0.48-0.479800.00311.46-0.48-0.53
0.45-0.479900.00311.45-0.47-0.56
0.42-0.4610000.00311.43-0.46-0.59
0.39-0.4510100.00311.40-0.45-0.62
0.36-0.4410200.00301.37-0.44-0.65
0.33-0.4210300.00291.33-0.42-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 55 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4107609301030113013205210
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot400700860970107011705K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 10K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: EQIX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk