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

CALM max pain

Spot (delayed)$62.6
Max pain · Fri, Jan 19$35-44.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$27.5±43.9% by Fri, Jan 19
Put/Call OI0.0915 puts / 163 calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3033.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 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

spot353550658095110$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot35355570901056464
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CALM open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 19.

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 19

spot353555709010511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot355065809511041%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot35557090105+$928−$928
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 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93—350.00370.14-0.00-0.08
0.90-0.00400.00490.18-0.00-0.12
0.86-0.00450.00620.22-0.01-0.16
0.77-0.00550.00880.29-0.01-0.27
0.72-0.01600.00980.32-0.01-0.33
0.67-0.01650.01070.34-0.01-0.39
0.61-0.01700.01140.36-0.01-0.46
0.51-0.01800.01210.38-0.01-0.60
0.46-0.01850.01220.37-0.01-0.68
0.42-0.01900.01210.37-0.01-0.75
0.38-0.01950.01180.36-0.01-0.83
0.34-0.011000.01140.34-0.01-0.90
0.30-0.011050.01090.33-0.01-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. 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