Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 11:51 PM ET

AUPH max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.04
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$15-12.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.08±18.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.7912K puts / 15K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3049.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$57Kper 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$16-6.1%24d
Fri, Dec 18$11-35.4%52d
Fri, Jan 15$15-12.0%80d
Fri, Apr 16$12-29.6%171d
Fri, Jan 21$17-0.2%451d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot153814192530$16M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1531115192311K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AUPH 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

spot153111519231313
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot51015202530160%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 15311151923+$224K−$224K
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
0.94-0.00100.01720.01-0.00-0.05
0.92-0.00110.02370.01-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.01120.03250.01-0.01-0.10
0.86-0.01130.04450.02-0.01-0.13
0.81-0.01140.05980.02-0.01-0.18
0.74-0.01150.07730.03-0.01-0.25
0.66-0.01160.09320.03-0.01-0.34
0.55-0.01170.10220.03-0.01-0.44
0.46-0.01180.10200.03-0.01-0.55
0.37-0.01190.09480.03-0.01-0.63
0.30-0.01200.08440.03-0.01-0.70
0.24-0.01210.07350.03-0.01-0.76
0.20-0.01220.06330.02-0.01-0.81
0.16-0.01230.05440.02-0.01-0.84
0.14-0.01240.04670.02-0.01-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot39131721259K0
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

spot391317212511K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 19K 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: AUPH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk