Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:56 AM ET

CAKE max pain

Spot (delayed)$107
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$97.5-8.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.55±17.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.074K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3052.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$20Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

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$110+2.8%26d
Fri, Dec 18$115+7.5%54d
Fri, Jan 15$97.5-8.9%82d
Fri, Feb 19$100-6.5%117d
Fri, Apr 16$110+2.8%173d
Fri, May 21$95-11.2%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot97.5255483112141170$28M$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 — 97.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot97.525456585110150668668
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CAKE 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

spot97.5254565851101509898
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot255483112141170161%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 3025456585110150+$56K−$56K
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
0.88-0.03850.00780.10-0.03-0.12
0.86-0.0387.50.00900.12-0.03-0.15
0.83-0.04900.01020.13-0.04-0.17
0.80-0.0492.50.01140.15-0.04-0.20
0.77-0.04950.01260.16-0.04-0.24
0.73-0.0597.50.01360.17-0.05-0.27
0.69-0.051000.01460.18-0.05-0.31
0.61-0.051050.01610.20-0.06-0.39
0.53-0.061100.01680.21-0.06-0.48
0.45-0.061150.01670.20-0.06-0.56
0.38-0.051200.01600.20-0.06-0.64
0.31-0.051250.01480.18-0.05-0.71
0.25-0.041300.01320.17-0.05-0.77
0.20-0.041350.01160.15-0.04-0.82
0.16-0.041400.01000.13-0.04-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2547.567.587.51151551K0
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

spot22.542.562.582.51051452K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 10K 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: CAKE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk