Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:18 AM ET

AG max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.81
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$15+1.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.12±21.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.67115K puts / 171K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3056.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$137Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $4

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$17+14.8%4d
Fri, Nov 6$17+14.8%11d
Fri, Nov 13$16.5+11.4%18d
Fri, Nov 20$17+14.8%25d
Fri, Nov 27$15.5+4.7%32d
Fri, Dec 4$15+1.3%39d
Fri, Dec 18$15+1.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$15+1.3%81d
Fri, Mar 19$20+35.0%144d
Fri, Apr 16$20+35.0%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot151917243240$246M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot151101622283747K47K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AG 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

spot1511016222837587587
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot21017253240201%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 421117232940+$262K−$262K
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
1.000.0050.00160.000.00-0.00
0.99-0.0070.00620.00-0.00-0.01
0.93-0.00100.03020.01-0.00-0.07
0.89-0.01110.04580.01-0.01-0.11
0.83-0.01120.06450.02-0.01-0.18
0.74-0.01130.08320.02-0.01-0.26
0.65-0.01140.09760.03-0.01-0.36
0.54-0.01150.10410.03-0.01-0.46
0.45-0.01160.10260.03-0.01-0.56
0.36-0.01170.09520.03-0.01-0.65
0.29-0.01180.08510.02-0.01-0.72
0.24-0.01190.07440.02-0.01-0.78
0.19-0.01200.06420.02-0.01-0.83
0.16-0.01210.05520.02-0.01-0.86
0.13-0.01220.04750.01-0.01-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot514.517.520.523.526.54K0
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

spot110.51519.52430161K161K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 559K call contracts, 388K 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: AG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk