Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 11:31 PM ET

ASO max pain

Spot (delayed)$59.61
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$47.5-20.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.75±16.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.602K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$47.5largest put OI
IV3038.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$218Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22.5

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$52-12.8%3d
Fri, Nov 6$59-1.0%10d
Fri, Nov 13$55-7.7%17d
Fri, Nov 20$58-2.7%24d
Fri, Nov 27$60+0.7%31d
Fri, Dec 4$60+0.7%38d
Fri, Dec 18$57.5-3.5%52d
Fri, Jan 15$47.5-20.3%80d
Fri, Apr 16$60+0.7%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot47.5183247617690$13M$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 — 47.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot47.517.53042.55567.5901K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ASO 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

spot47.517.53042.55567.5902020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot183247617690143%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 22.517.53042.55567.590+$83K−$83K
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
0.93-0.0142.50.00880.04-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.01450.01160.05-0.02-0.10
0.87-0.0247.50.01510.06-0.02-0.13
0.83-0.02500.01920.07-0.02-0.17
0.78-0.0252.50.02360.09-0.02-0.23
0.71-0.03550.02800.10-0.03-0.30
0.63-0.0357.50.03150.11-0.03-0.38
0.55-0.03600.03370.11-0.03-0.46
0.47-0.0362.50.03420.11-0.03-0.55
0.39-0.03650.03300.11-0.03-0.63
0.32-0.0367.50.03060.10-0.03-0.70
0.26-0.02700.02740.09-0.02-0.76
0.17-0.02750.02060.07-0.02-0.86
0.11-0.01800.01480.05-0.02-0.93
0.07-0.01850.01040.04-0.01-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 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

spot3845505560651340
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

spot17.538465361682K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K 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: ASO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk