Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 6:41 PM ET

EQNR max pain

Spot (delayed)$41.84
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$34.42-17.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.6±18.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.5611K puts / 20K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3037.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$758Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $41

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$40-4.4%4d
Fri, Sep 18$40-4.4%32d
Fri, Oct 16$37-11.6%60d
Fri, Jan 15$34.42-17.7%151d
Fri, Mar 19$40-4.4%214d
Fri, May 21$50+19.5%277d
Fri, Aug 20$35-16.3%368d
Fri, Nov 19$35-16.3%459d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot34.42122231415060$33M$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 — 34.42 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot34.4212.4222.4231.423842466K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EQNR open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot34.4212.4222.4231.42384246156156
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot122231415060124%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 4112.4222.4231.42384246+$323K$323K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.87-0.01330.02170.06-0.01-0.14
0.83-0.0134.420.02610.07-0.01-0.18
0.76-0.0136.420.03200.08-0.01-0.24
0.70-0.01380.03610.09-0.01-0.30
0.66-0.01390.03820.10-0.01-0.34
0.62-0.01400.03980.10-0.01-0.38
0.58-0.01410.04090.10-0.01-0.42
0.54-0.01420.04150.10-0.01-0.46
0.50-0.01430.04160.10-0.01-0.50
0.46-0.01440.04120.10-0.01-0.54
0.42-0.01450.04050.10-0.01-0.58
0.39-0.01460.03940.10-0.01-0.62
0.27-0.01500.03290.09-0.01-0.74
0.16-0.01550.02380.07-0.01-0.84
0.10-0.01600.01650.05-0.00-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot19313641465513K0
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

spot12.42202631.42374517K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 68K call contracts, 69K 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: EQNR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk