Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 11:41 PM ET

ARKB max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.92
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$21-22.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.88±14.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.21724 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3041.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$85Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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$26-3.4%28d
Fri, Dec 18$24-10.8%56d
Fri, Jan 15$21-22.0%84d
Fri, Mar 19$22-18.3%147d
Thu, Jun 17$28+4.0%237d
Fri, Jan 21$15-44.3%455d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot21112131405060$9M$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 — 21 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot21111926334047649649
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ARKB 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

spot211119263340475151
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot11213140506097%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 15111926334047+$32K−$32K
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
0.92-0.00200.02270.02-0.01-0.08
0.90-0.01210.02910.02-0.01-0.10
0.87-0.01220.03690.03-0.01-0.14
0.83-0.01230.04620.03-0.01-0.18
0.78-0.01240.05660.04-0.01-0.23
0.72-0.01250.06720.04-0.01-0.29
0.65-0.01260.07640.05-0.01-0.36
0.56-0.01270.08230.05-0.01-0.45
0.48-0.01280.08390.05-0.01-0.53
0.41-0.01290.08120.05-0.01-0.61
0.34-0.01300.07540.05-0.01-0.69
0.28-0.01310.06780.04-0.01-0.75
0.23-0.01320.05980.04-0.01-0.80
0.19-0.01330.05220.04-0.01-0.84
0.16-0.01340.04540.03-0.01-0.88

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

spot1119263340471K0
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

spot1017243138451K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 3K 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: ARKB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk