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

EQX max pain

Spot (delayed)$10.11
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$7.5-25.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.1±50.4% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.157K puts / 43K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV3051.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$169Kper 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

spot7.53916222935$76M$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot7.52.57.512.517.522.5309K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EQX open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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 21

spot7.52.57.512.517.522.530147147
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot391622293582%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 58.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot2.57.512.517.522.530+$42K−$42K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98—2.50.00470.010.00-0.02
0.920.0050.02000.02-0.00-0.08
0.81-0.007.50.04050.03-0.00-0.20
0.67-0.00100.05510.04-0.00-0.35
0.54-0.0012.50.06060.04-0.00-0.50
0.42-0.00150.05960.04-0.00-0.63
0.34-0.0017.50.05520.04-0.00-0.73
0.27-0.00200.04950.04-0.00-0.82
0.22-0.0022.50.04370.03-0.00-0.90
0.18-0.00250.03820.03-0.00-0.96
0.12-0.00300.02910.02-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 12 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