SPX Pre-NY map — Tuesday 27 October 2026

Calm today, the choppiest next three days of the last 20 sessions: the options map is split.

Prior close 7,676.77 (SPX, Yahoo, 26 Oct) · VIX 17.74 (Yahoo, 08:23 ET) · Indicated level 7,707.20 (SPX perpetual, Hyperliquid, not the index; +30.43 pts vs the prior close) · Options snapshot 08:30 ET

Read this first. This describes overnight positioning at the 08:30 ET snapshot. It is a description, not a forecast. The actual open can change it radically, and often does: new positioning arrives at 09:30 ET and can reverse the picture.

How to read it. Steadying means net gamma is positive and market-maker hedging tends to lean against a move; amplifying means it is negative and hedging tends to follow a move. The anchor is the strike within 100 points of the print with the largest positive net, the weak spot the one with the largest negative net.

Today (27 Oct expiry)

Steadying, net +50.8 M$/pt. That is higher than 16 of the last 20 sessions at this hour.

Since the 26 Oct close it went from +56.6 to +50.8 (−5.8); the 26 Oct 20:00 to 27 Oct 04:00 ET window is where the new positioning formed.

The anchor is 7650 (+10.9), the strongest positive strike; the weak spot is 7715 (−5.9), the largest negative.

One-day expected move: ±85.8 points, a box of 7,591.0 to 7,762.6 (prior close × VIX ÷ 100 × √(1/252)).

The next three expiries (28, 29 and 30 Oct)

Amplifying, net −30.8 M$/pt combined. That is the lowest of the last 20 sessions at this hour.

Since the 26 Oct close it went from −27.5 to −30.8 (−3.3).

Over these three expiries the anchor is 7725 (+11.8 combined: +6.0 on 28 Oct, +3.0 on 29 Oct, +2.7 on 30 Oct) and the weak spot is 7700 (−29.0 combined: −2.8 on 28 Oct, −10.3 on 29 Oct, −15.9 on 30 Oct).

Expected move to 30 Oct: ±171.6 points, a box of 7,505.2 to 7,848.3. This is a rougher rule of thumb: the one-day figure scaled by √4, the 4 sessions from the 26 Oct close to the 30 Oct close, and it assumes constant volatility.

All expiries

Across all 12 pulled expiries (27 Oct to 20 Nov) the net is +36.2: steadying.

Net Drift

QuantData Net Drift (net customer flows, in premium) panels, covering options expiring within the next 90 days. Left: market-wide positioning. Right: SPX positioning. Green is calls, red is puts and orange is the net. Captured 27 Oct, 08:37 ET.

Sources: options positioning from OptionsDepth (snapshot 2026-10-27 08:30 ET, market-maker perspective; history at the same time of day on the previous 20 sessions and the 26 Oct 15:59 ET snapshot); prior close and VIX from Yahoo (^GSPC 26 Oct; ^VIX 1m bar 08:23 ET); indicated level from the Hyperliquid xyz:SP500 perpetual (1m candle 08:29 ET), a third-party futures contract and not the SPX index. The 20 Nov monthly expiry does not separate SPX from SPXW.

Educational only.

Copyright: Robert P. Balan (c)