Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:03 PM ET

AEIS max pain

Spot (delayed)$224.04
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$380+69.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$55.45±24.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.573K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$400largest call OI
Put wall$370largest put OI
IV3076.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$229Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $165

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$270+20.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$250+11.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$380+69.6%81d
Fri, Apr 16$250+11.6%172d
Thu, Jun 17$260+16.1%234d
Fri, Dec 17$260+16.1%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot380130212294376458540$57M$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 — 380 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot380130175230310390470995995
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AEIS 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

spot380130175230310390470125125
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot13021229437645854094%63%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 66.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 165130175230310390470+$128K−$128K
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
0.82-0.111750.00340.27-0.12-0.18
0.80-0.121800.00370.29-0.13-0.20
0.78-0.131850.00400.31-0.13-0.22
0.76-0.141900.00430.33-0.14-0.24
0.73-0.141950.00450.35-0.15-0.27
0.70-0.152000.00480.36-0.15-0.30
0.65-0.162100.00520.39-0.16-0.35
0.60-0.162200.00550.41-0.17-0.41
0.54-0.172300.00570.42-0.17-0.46
0.48-0.172400.00580.42-0.17-0.52
0.43-0.172500.00570.41-0.17-0.57
0.38-0.162600.00550.40-0.16-0.63
0.34-0.152700.00530.39-0.15-0.67
0.29-0.142800.00500.36-0.14-0.71
0.26-0.142900.00470.34-0.13-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 46 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot901401952903904903800
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

spot901401902803804801K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 6K 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: AEIS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk