Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:02 AM ET

AAOI max pain

Spot (delayed)$67.31
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$85+26.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$24.1±35.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.1553K puts / 46K calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV30107.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$500Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

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, Oct 30$82+21.8%4d
Fri, Nov 6$95+41.1%11d
Fri, Nov 13$79+17.4%18d
Fri, Nov 20$95+41.1%25d
Fri, Nov 27$92+36.7%32d
Fri, Dec 4$67-0.5%39d
Fri, Dec 18$100+48.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$85+26.3%81d
Fri, Feb 19$85+26.3%116d
Fri, Mar 19$100+48.6%144d
Fri, Apr 16$85+26.3%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot85372142211281350$865M$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot852.532751251752507K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AAOI 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

spot852.53275125175250223223
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot372142211281350273%93%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 95.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 12.5103780125170230+$218K−$218K
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
0.94-0.02350.00340.04-0.02-0.06
0.93-0.03370.00400.04-0.03-0.07
0.91-0.03400.00490.05-0.03-0.09
0.87-0.04450.00660.07-0.04-0.13
0.82-0.05500.00840.09-0.05-0.18
0.76-0.06550.01000.10-0.06-0.24
0.70-0.06600.01130.11-0.07-0.30
0.64-0.07650.01220.12-0.07-0.37
0.57-0.07700.01280.13-0.07-0.43
0.51-0.07750.01300.13-0.07-0.49
0.46-0.07800.01290.13-0.07-0.55
0.41-0.07850.01260.13-0.07-0.60
0.36-0.07900.01210.12-0.07-0.65
0.32-0.07950.01140.12-0.07-0.69
0.28-0.061000.01070.11-0.07-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 57 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot507586981101273K0
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

spot7.5508210516023022K22K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 205K call contracts, 184K 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: AAOI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk