Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:13 AM ET

AXSM max pain

Spot (delayed)$145.4
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$170+16.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$27.9±19.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.029K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$320largest call OI
Put wall$160largest put OI
IV3056.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.3Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $80

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$175+20.4%26d
Fri, Dec 18$200+37.6%54d
Fri, Jan 15$170+16.9%82d
Fri, Mar 19$160+10.0%145d
Fri, May 21$150+3.2%208d
Thu, Jun 17$160+10.0%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17048114181247314380$112M$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 — 170 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot17047.5901251702303205K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AXSM 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

spot17047.5901251702303203838
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot48114181247314380142%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 805092.5135180250340+$1.1M−$1.1M
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
0.90-0.041100.00490.13-0.04-0.11
0.87-0.051150.00600.15-0.05-0.14
0.83-0.061200.00710.18-0.06-0.18
0.79-0.061250.00820.21-0.06-0.22
0.74-0.071300.00920.23-0.07-0.27
0.69-0.081350.01010.25-0.08-0.32
0.63-0.081400.01070.26-0.08-0.38
0.57-0.081450.01110.27-0.09-0.44
0.52-0.081500.01130.28-0.09-0.49
0.47-0.081550.01120.28-0.09-0.55
0.41-0.081600.01100.27-0.09-0.60
0.37-0.081650.01060.26-0.08-0.65
0.33-0.081700.01000.25-0.08-0.70
0.28-0.071750.00940.24-0.08-0.74
0.25-0.071800.00880.22-0.07-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 52 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot47.5901251702303202K0
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

spot47.5901251702303205K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 15K call contracts, 12K 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: AXSM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk