Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 11:33 PM ET

ALTO max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.59
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$2-44.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.45±40.4% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.0356 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$7largest call OI
Put wall$6largest put OI
IV3081.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 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, Nov 20$3.5-2.5%28d
Fri, Dec 18$2.5-30.4%56d
Fri, Jan 15$3-16.4%84d
Fri, Apr 16$2-44.3%175d
Fri, Jan 21$1-72.1%455d
Fri, Jan 19$4+11.4%819d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2124578$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 — 2 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot2134.568710710
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALTO open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot2134.5682020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot124578152%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 74.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot2457+$1K−$1K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.0010.02270.00-0.00-0.04
0.88-0.0020.07170.01-0.00-0.12
0.73-0.0030.15220.01-0.00-0.26
0.53-0.0040.21970.01-0.00-0.47
0.43-0.004.50.22420.01-0.00-0.58
0.34-0.0050.21150.01-0.00-0.67
0.23-0.0060.16880.01-0.00-0.80
0.16-0.0070.13040.01-0.00-0.88
0.12-0.0080.10210.01-0.00-0.93

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

spot134.57104K0
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

spot0.523.557104K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 1K 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: ALTO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk