Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:16 PM ET

CART max pain

Spot (delayed)$60.9
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$47-22.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.6±12.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.4410K puts / 22K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$47largest put OI
IV3053.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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 30$47.5-22.0%4d
Fri, Nov 6$49.5-18.7%11d
Fri, Nov 13$48-21.2%18d
Fri, Nov 20$47-22.8%25d
Fri, Nov 27$45-26.1%32d
Fri, Dec 4$56-8.1%39d
Fri, Dec 18$44-27.8%53d
Fri, Jan 15$47-22.8%81d
Fri, Apr 16$45-26.1%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot47182941526475$46M$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 — 47 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot4718303540455511K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CART 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

spot471830354045551K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot203142536475131%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 20183035404555+$1.1M−$1.1M
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
0.92-0.01440.00960.04-0.01-0.08
0.91-0.01450.01070.05-0.01-0.09
0.89-0.01460.01180.05-0.02-0.10
0.88-0.02470.01310.06-0.02-0.11
0.87-0.02480.01450.06-0.02-0.13
0.83-0.02500.01750.07-0.02-0.16
0.72-0.03550.02550.10-0.03-0.28
0.57-0.03600.03120.11-0.03-0.42
0.42-0.03650.03150.11-0.03-0.58
0.28-0.03700.02720.10-0.03-0.72
0.19-0.02750.02120.08-0.02-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot374447.55055607K0
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

spot18324146526227K27K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 81K call contracts, 23K 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: CART workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk