Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 8:31 PM ET

APA max pain

Spot (delayed)$50.45
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$20-60.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.95±17.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.3925K puts / 64K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3049.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$942Kper 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 30$49-2.9%3d
Fri, Nov 6$50-0.9%10d
Fri, Nov 13$48-4.9%17d
Fri, Nov 20$47-6.8%24d
Fri, Nov 27$51+1.1%31d
Fri, Dec 4$51+1.1%38d
Fri, Dec 18$40-20.7%52d
Fri, Jan 15$20-60.4%80d
Fri, Mar 19$45-10.8%143d
Fri, Apr 16$42.5-15.8%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2031630435770$255M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot202.51527.54052.57021K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)APA 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

spot202.51527.54052.570190190
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot82033455870158%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 20517.53042.555+$220K−$220K
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
0.97-0.0032.50.00500.02-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.01350.00770.02-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.0137.50.01160.03-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.01400.01660.05-0.01-0.12
0.83-0.0242.50.02220.06-0.02-0.17
0.76-0.02450.02760.07-0.02-0.24
0.68-0.0247.50.03200.09-0.03-0.33
0.59-0.03500.03490.09-0.03-0.41
0.50-0.0352.50.03600.10-0.03-0.51
0.42-0.03550.03540.09-0.03-0.59
0.34-0.0357.50.03330.09-0.03-0.67
0.27-0.02600.03010.08-0.02-0.75
0.17-0.02650.02250.06-0.02-0.86
0.10-0.01700.01580.04-0.01-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot253943.54751581K0
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

spot2.527.53844.549.557.521K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 116K call contracts, 58K 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: APA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk