Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:50 AM ET

CALM max pain

Spot (delayed)$62.6
Max pain · Fri, May 21$70+11.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.75±23.6% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI1.25269 puts / 216 calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3033.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 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$65+3.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$70+11.8%53d
Fri, Feb 19$65+3.8%116d
Fri, May 21$70+11.8%207d
Fri, Jan 21$65+3.8%452d
Fri, Jan 19$35-44.1%816d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot703548617487100$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot703550658095132132
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CALM open contracts per strike for Fri, May 21.

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, May 21

spot70355065809511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot354861748710064%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spot3550658095+$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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.00350.00330.04-0.00-0.04
0.94-0.01400.00560.06-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.01450.00880.09-0.01-0.11
0.84-0.01500.01290.12-0.01-0.17
0.76-0.01550.01730.15-0.01-0.25
0.66-0.01600.02120.18-0.02-0.36
0.54-0.02650.02360.19-0.02-0.48
0.43-0.01700.02390.19-0.02-0.61
0.33-0.01750.02220.17-0.02-0.73
0.24-0.01800.01920.15-0.01-0.83
0.18-0.01850.01590.12-0.01-0.92
0.13-0.01900.01270.10-0.01-0.97
0.09-0.01950.01000.08-0.00-1.00
0.07-0.011000.00780.07-0.00-1.00

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

spot355575951151352K0
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

spot355575951151352K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 5K 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: CALM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk