Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 18, 2:24 AM ET

AVAV max pain

Spot (delayed)$121.5
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$160+31.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$32.35±26.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.677K puts / 11K calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3057.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$201Kper 1% move

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 23$135+11.1%6d
Fri, Oct 30$140+15.2%13d
Fri, Nov 6$130+7.0%20d
Fri, Nov 13$130+7.0%27d
Fri, Nov 20$140+15.2%34d
Fri, Nov 27$134+10.3%41d
Fri, Dec 18$160+31.7%62d
Fri, Jan 15$160+31.7%90d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot16055164273382491600$369M$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 — 160 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot160551101602203204201K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AVAV 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

spot160551101602203204204646
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot55164273382491600148%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 67.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot55110160220320420+$88K−$88K
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
0.90-0.04850.00430.11-0.04-0.10
0.87-0.05900.00530.13-0.05-0.13
0.83-0.06950.00630.15-0.06-0.17
0.79-0.061000.00720.18-0.06-0.21
0.75-0.071050.00810.20-0.07-0.26
0.70-0.081100.00880.21-0.08-0.31
0.65-0.081150.00940.23-0.08-0.36
0.60-0.081200.00980.24-0.09-0.41
0.55-0.091250.01000.24-0.09-0.46
0.50-0.091300.01010.24-0.09-0.51
0.46-0.091350.01000.24-0.09-0.55
0.41-0.091400.00980.24-0.09-0.60
0.37-0.081450.00950.23-0.09-0.64
0.34-0.081500.00910.22-0.08-0.68
0.30-0.081550.00860.21-0.08-0.71

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 57 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot901241331421552005980
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

spot551151501952803702K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 34K call contracts, 26K 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: AVAV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk