Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 11:28 PM ET

BETR max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.3
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$12.5-18.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.88±44.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.502K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV30134.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$23Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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, Nov 20$10-34.6%30d
Fri, Dec 18$10-34.6%58d
Fri, Jan 15$12.5-18.3%86d
Fri, Mar 19$12.5-18.3%149d
Fri, Apr 16$12.5-18.3%177d
Fri, Jul 16$17.5+14.4%268d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.531528405365$22M$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot12.52.51017.52540551K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BETR 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

spot12.52.51017.5254055664664
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot51729415365211%116%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 119.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 7.5512.520304565+$11K−$11K
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
1.00-0.022.50.00140.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0150.00870.00-0.00-0.03
0.93-0.017.50.01860.01-0.01-0.08
0.84-0.01100.02980.02-0.01-0.15
0.72-0.0212.50.03980.02-0.01-0.26
0.60-0.02150.04570.03-0.02-0.37
0.49-0.0217.50.04690.03-0.02-0.48
0.40-0.02200.04480.03-0.02-0.57
0.32-0.0222.50.04100.03-0.01-0.64
0.26-0.02250.03680.02-0.01-0.70
0.18-0.01300.02880.02-0.01-0.78
0.13-0.01350.02260.02-0.00-0.83
0.10-0.01400.01800.01-0.00-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.51017.52540552K0
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

spot2.51017.52540556K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 8K 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: BETR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk