Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 16, 1:43 AM ET

AGI max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.98
Max pain · Fri, May 21$28-12.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.25±28.9% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.06172 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$28largest put OI
IV3047.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$73Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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 16$30-6.2%today
Fri, Nov 20$34+6.3%35d
Fri, Dec 18$34+6.3%63d
Fri, Jan 15$32+0.1%91d
Fri, Feb 19$33+3.2%126d
Fri, Mar 19$34+6.3%154d
Fri, Apr 16$30-6.2%182d
Fri, May 21$28-12.4%217d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot28152331394755$4M$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 — 28 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot2815253240551K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AGI 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

spot28152532405511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot20273441485559%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 201525324055+$32K−$32K
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
0.960.00150.00520.02-0.00-0.03
0.91-0.00200.01180.04-0.01-0.09
0.85-0.01230.01770.06-0.01-0.14
0.80-0.01250.02200.07-0.01-0.19
0.71-0.01280.02780.08-0.01-0.28
0.65-0.01300.03060.09-0.01-0.35
0.58-0.01320.03240.10-0.01-0.41
0.49-0.01350.03320.10-0.01-0.51
0.43-0.01370.03260.10-0.01-0.57
0.36-0.01400.03060.09-0.01-0.65
0.26-0.01450.02590.08-0.01-0.76
0.18-0.01500.02100.07-0.01-0.84
0.13-0.01550.01670.05-0.01-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1728344046608K0
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

spot5202836446015K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 113K call contracts, 33K 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: AGI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk