Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 5:40 AM ET

APG max pain

Spot (delayed)$40.39
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$39-3.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.93±14.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.55717 puts / 464 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$36largest put OI
IV3035.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$21Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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$40-1.0%3d
Fri, Nov 20$37-8.4%38d
Fri, Jan 15$39-3.4%94d
Fri, Apr 16$36-10.9%185d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot39253443526170$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 — 39 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot392537414555286286
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)APG 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

spot39253741455511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot25344352617079%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 352537414555+$18K−$18K
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
0.95-0.00250.00710.02-0.01-0.04
0.91-0.01300.01580.03-0.01-0.09
0.80-0.01350.03340.06-0.01-0.20
0.77-0.01360.03800.06-0.01-0.23
0.73-0.01370.04280.07-0.01-0.28
0.68-0.01380.04740.07-0.01-0.32
0.63-0.01390.05150.08-0.01-0.37
0.58-0.01400.05470.08-0.01-0.43
0.52-0.01410.05650.08-0.01-0.48
0.47-0.01420.05680.08-0.01-0.54
0.41-0.01430.05570.08-0.01-0.60
0.36-0.01440.05340.08-0.01-0.65
0.32-0.01450.05020.07-0.01-0.69
0.25-0.01470.04280.07-0.01-0.77
0.22-0.01480.03910.06-0.01-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot25364044486013K0
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

spot25333843486513K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 14K 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: APG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk