Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 11:31 PM ET

ABSI max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.55
Max pain · Fri, May 21$8-16.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.8±60.7% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.48314 puts / 661 calls
Call wall$14largest call OI
Put wall$8largest put OI
IV30124.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $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, Nov 20$6-37.2%25d
Fri, Dec 18$8-16.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$7-26.7%81d
Fri, Feb 19$8-16.2%116d
Fri, May 21$8-16.2%207d
Fri, Jan 21$2-79.1%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot84811151822$1M$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 — 8 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot84710131622138138
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ABSI open contracts per strike for Fri, May 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, May 21

spot847101316221818
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot4811151822189%103%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 103.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 54710131622+$537−$537
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.0040.01730.01-0.00-0.08
0.87-0.0050.02380.01-0.00-0.12
0.82-0.0060.03030.02-0.01-0.16
0.78-0.0170.03610.02-0.01-0.21
0.73-0.0180.04070.02-0.01-0.26
0.68-0.0190.04410.03-0.01-0.31
0.63-0.01100.04640.03-0.01-0.35
0.59-0.01110.04790.03-0.01-0.40
0.55-0.01120.04860.03-0.01-0.43
0.52-0.01130.04890.03-0.01-0.47
0.48-0.01140.04870.03-0.01-0.51
0.45-0.01150.04820.03-0.01-0.54
0.42-0.01160.04750.03-0.01-0.57
0.35-0.01190.04460.03-0.01-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1591317227K0
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

spot1591317219K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 65K call contracts, 19K 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: ABSI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk