Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 2:33 AM ET

EQX max pain

Spot (delayed)$10.11
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$10-1.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.03±20.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.3120K puts / 65K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3051.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$336Kper 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$10-1.1%26d
Fri, Dec 18$11+8.8%54d
Fri, Jan 15$10-1.1%82d
Fri, Apr 16$10-1.1%173d
Fri, Jan 21$7.5-25.8%453d
Fri, Jan 19$10-1.1%817d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot103916222935$140M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot102.51014203014K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EQX 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

spot102.510142030164164
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3916222935186%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 52.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2.510142030+$129K−$129K
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
0.99-0.002.50.00360.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.0050.01670.00-0.00-0.03
0.88-0.007.50.06570.01-0.00-0.12
0.58-0.01100.15650.02-0.01-0.42
0.43-0.01110.15680.02-0.01-0.58
0.26-0.0112.50.12270.02-0.01-0.75
0.17-0.00140.08690.01-0.00-0.86
0.12-0.00150.06860.01-0.00-0.90
0.07-0.0017.50.03920.01-0.00-0.97
0.04-0.00200.02370.00-0.00-0.99
0.02-0.0022.50.01520.00—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot17.51115203033K0
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

spot161116213543K43K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 143K call contracts, 37K 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: EQX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk