Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 11:48 PM ET

ARGX max pain

Spot (delayed)$869.56
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$900+3.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$129.8±14.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.34429 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$950largest call OI
Put wall$1,020largest put OI
IV3036.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.3Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $710

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$880+1.2%25d
Fri, Dec 18$920+5.8%53d
Fri, Jan 15$900+3.5%81d
Fri, Feb 19$970+11.6%116d
Fri, Mar 19$950+9.3%144d
Fri, May 21$620-28.7%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot900470688906112413421560$71M$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 — 900 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot90047066080091010201200462462
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ARGX 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

spot9004706608009101020120066
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot47068890611241342156075%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 71047066080092010401220+$838K−$838K
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
0.76-0.317800.00181.28-0.33-0.24
0.74-0.337900.00191.33-0.34-0.26
0.72-0.348000.00201.38-0.35-0.28
0.70-0.358100.00211.43-0.36-0.31
0.68-0.368200.00221.47-0.37-0.33
0.63-0.378400.00231.55-0.39-0.38
0.61-0.388500.00241.58-0.39-0.40
0.53-0.398800.00251.63-0.40-0.47
0.48-0.399000.00251.63-0.40-0.53
0.46-0.399100.00251.63-0.40-0.55
0.44-0.389200.00251.61-0.40-0.57
0.41-0.389300.00241.60-0.39-0.60
0.39-0.379400.00241.57-0.39-0.62
0.37-0.379500.00241.55-0.38-0.65
0.31-0.349800.00221.45-0.35-0.71

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 40 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot440740830920104012205330
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

spot47072082092010401240841841
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 6K 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: ARGX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk