Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:28 PM ET

AHR max pain

Spot (delayed)$53.25
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$40-24.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.3±11.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.1448 puts / 347 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3026.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$43Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

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$50-6.1%25d
Fri, Dec 18$45-15.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$40-24.9%81d
Fri, Apr 16$40-24.9%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40253443526170$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot402535455565184184
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AHR 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

spot40253545556511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot253443526170101%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 302535455565+$31K−$31K
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
0.98-0.00250.00220.01-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.01300.00390.02-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.01350.00680.03-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.01400.01240.04-0.01-0.09
0.86-0.01450.02320.06-0.01-0.15
0.72-0.02500.04420.08-0.02-0.29
0.46-0.02550.06120.10-0.02-0.56
0.23-0.01600.04240.08-0.01-0.79
0.14-0.01650.02580.06-0.01-0.90
0.09-0.01700.01680.04-0.01-0.96

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

spot25405060707290
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

spot253545556575745745
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 307 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: AHR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk