Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 12:16 AM ET

BR max pain

Spot (delayed)$183.28
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$180-1.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$37.7±20.6% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI168.00336 puts / 2 calls
Call wall$180largest call OI
Put wall$155largest put OI
IV3038.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$66Kper 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, Nov 20$175-4.5%27d
Fri, Dec 18$155-15.4%55d
Fri, Mar 19$170-7.2%146d
Thu, Jun 17$180-1.8%236d
Fri, Dec 17$180-1.8%419d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot180130144158172186200$1M$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 — 180 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot180130145160200159159
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BR open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 17.

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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot1801301451602003636
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot13014415817218620036%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot130145160200+$33K−$33K
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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.011300.00280.21-0.02-0.08
0.90-0.011350.00340.24-0.02-0.10
0.86-0.021450.00460.33-0.02-0.15
0.80-0.031550.00600.41-0.03-0.21
0.76-0.031600.00660.45-0.03-0.25
0.60-0.041800.00830.56-0.04-0.41
0.44-0.042000.00840.57-0.04-0.57

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot751301551802102603K0
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

spot751051351651952503K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 3K 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: BR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk