Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:57 AM ET

AER max pain

Spot (delayed)$145.92
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$80-45.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.2±10.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.273K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3027.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$954Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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$145-0.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$150+2.8%54d
Fri, Jan 15$80-45.2%82d
Fri, Apr 16$120-17.8%173d
Fri, May 21$145-0.6%208d
Fri, Aug 20$130-10.9%299d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot804580115150185220$98M$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 — 80 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot804575951251601951K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AER 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

spot8045759512516019511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot5588121154187220105%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 5047.58097.5130165200+$424K−$424K
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
0.95-0.011100.00370.07-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.021150.00510.09-0.02-0.07
0.91-0.021200.00700.12-0.02-0.09
0.87-0.031250.00950.15-0.03-0.13
0.82-0.031300.01260.18-0.03-0.18
0.76-0.041350.01620.22-0.04-0.25
0.67-0.041400.01980.25-0.04-0.34
0.56-0.041450.02240.28-0.04-0.45
0.45-0.041500.02310.28-0.04-0.57
0.34-0.041550.02170.26-0.04-0.68
0.25-0.031600.01860.22-0.03-0.78
0.17-0.031650.01500.18-0.03-0.86
0.12-0.021700.01160.14-0.02-0.91
0.08-0.021750.00870.11-0.01-0.95
0.06-0.011800.00640.09-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot45801001351702101K0
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

spot4575951251601951K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 11K 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: AER workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk