Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 10:08 AM ET

AIG max pain

Spot (delayed)$83.03
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$77.5-6.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.4±8.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.5511K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$75largest put OI
IV3026.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$165Kper 1% move

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 23$78-6.1%today
Fri, Oct 30$77-7.3%7d
Fri, Nov 6$76-8.5%14d
Fri, Nov 13$78-6.1%21d
Fri, Nov 20$80-3.6%28d
Fri, Nov 27$78-6.1%35d
Fri, Dec 18$75-9.7%56d
Fri, Jan 15$77.5-6.7%84d
Fri, Feb 19$75-9.7%119d
Fri, Mar 19$80-3.6%147d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot77.538557390108125$35M$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 — 77.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot77.537.55067.58092.51154K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AIG 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

spot77.537.55067.58092.51152121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3855739010812588%15%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot37.55067.58092.5115+$515K−$515K
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
0.95-0.00650.00810.04-0.01-0.06
0.93-0.0167.50.01090.05-0.01-0.08
0.91-0.01700.01470.07-0.01-0.10
0.87-0.0172.50.01960.09-0.01-0.14
0.82-0.01750.02570.10-0.02-0.19
0.75-0.0277.50.03270.13-0.02-0.26
0.67-0.02800.03920.14-0.02-0.35
0.56-0.0282.50.04330.16-0.02-0.45
0.45-0.02850.04360.16-0.02-0.56
0.35-0.0287.50.04030.15-0.02-0.66
0.27-0.02900.03490.13-0.02-0.74
0.21-0.0292.50.02920.12-0.01-0.81
0.16-0.01950.02390.10-0.01-0.85
0.10-0.011000.01570.07-0.01-0.91
0.06-0.011050.01050.05-0.00-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4565717681864280
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

spot3562.57077.58592.58K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 32K call contracts, 34K 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: AIG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk