Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 1:36 AM ET

AR max pain

Spot (delayed)$40.16
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$35-12.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.63±14.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.5414K puts / 27K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3040.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.0Mper 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$36-10.4%6d
Fri, Nov 6$38-5.4%13d
Fri, Nov 13$36-10.4%20d
Fri, Nov 20$38.5-4.1%27d
Fri, Nov 27$38-5.4%34d
Fri, Dec 4$36-10.4%41d
Fri, Dec 18$38-5.4%55d
Fri, Jan 15$35-12.8%83d
Fri, Feb 19$31-22.8%118d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35152535455565$62M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot351527333945555K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AR 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

spot351527333945559191
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot15253545556594%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 20152733394555+$319K−$319K
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
0.89-0.01330.02540.04-0.01-0.11
0.86-0.01340.03050.04-0.01-0.14
0.82-0.01350.03590.05-0.01-0.18
0.78-0.01360.04110.06-0.01-0.22
0.73-0.01370.04600.06-0.01-0.27
0.68-0.01380.05000.07-0.01-0.32
0.63-0.02390.05310.07-0.02-0.38
0.57-0.02400.05500.08-0.02-0.43
0.52-0.02410.05580.08-0.02-0.49
0.46-0.02420.05540.08-0.02-0.55
0.41-0.02430.05400.07-0.02-0.60
0.36-0.02440.05180.07-0.02-0.65
0.32-0.01450.04910.07-0.02-0.70
0.28-0.01460.04580.07-0.01-0.74
0.24-0.01470.04240.06-0.01-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot25323537.539.5425020
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

spot152833.537.542509K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 53K call contracts, 30K 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: AR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk