Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 2:57 AM ET

BUG max pain

Spot (delayed)$50.27
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$40-20.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.05±14.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.612K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3041.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$72Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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$48-4.5%26d
Fri, Dec 18$43-14.5%54d
Fri, Jan 15$40-20.4%82d
Fri, Mar 19$41-18.4%145d
Fri, Apr 16$50-0.5%173d
Thu, Jun 17$47-6.5%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40122333445465$8M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot40122430364248557557
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BUG 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

spot40122430364248461461
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot172736465565137%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 25122430364248+$22K−$22K
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
0.80-0.02430.02670.07-0.02-0.20
0.77-0.02440.02960.07-0.02-0.23
0.74-0.02450.03240.08-0.02-0.26
0.70-0.02460.03510.08-0.02-0.29
0.67-0.02470.03750.09-0.02-0.33
0.63-0.02480.03960.09-0.02-0.37
0.59-0.02490.04120.09-0.02-0.41
0.55-0.02500.04220.10-0.02-0.46
0.35-0.02550.03900.09-0.02-0.66
0.21-0.02600.02920.07-0.02-0.80
0.13-0.01650.02020.05-0.01-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1426334047542K0
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

spot1222324252623K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 22K call contracts, 22K 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: BUG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk