Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 1:14 AM ET

CAPR max pain

Spot (delayed)$6.11
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$7.5+22.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.78±110.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.4818K puts / 38K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$2.5largest put OI
IV30347.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$33Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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, Oct 23$6.5+6.4%today
Fri, Oct 30$6-1.8%7d
Fri, Nov 6$7+14.6%14d
Fri, Nov 13$7+14.6%21d
Fri, Nov 20$9+47.3%28d
Fri, Nov 27$6-1.8%35d
Fri, Dec 18$9+47.3%56d
Fri, Jan 15$7.5+22.7%84d
Fri, Mar 19$5-18.2%147d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.511325364860$134M$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot7.5110202835426K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CAPR 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

spot7.511020283542193193
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot11325364860410%219%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 323.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 7.511020283542+$7K−$7K
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
0.97-0.0010.00760.00-0.00-0.02
0.90-0.012.50.01960.01-0.01-0.09
0.83-0.0140.02850.01-0.01-0.15
0.79-0.0150.03280.01-0.01-0.20
0.75-0.0160.03610.01-0.01-0.23
0.70-0.027.50.03970.01-0.02-0.29
0.66-0.0290.04210.01-0.02-0.33
0.63-0.02100.04320.01-0.02-0.36
0.60-0.02110.04400.01-0.02-0.38
0.57-0.0212.50.04480.01-0.02-0.42
0.54-0.02140.04520.01-0.02-0.45
0.52-0.02150.04530.01-0.02-0.47

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 42 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot157.51012.5171K0
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

spot1712.520304119K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 122K call contracts, 67K 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: CAPR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk