Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 3:47 AM ET

CB max pain

Spot (delayed)$356.74
Max pain · Fri, May 21$320-10.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$47.25±13.2% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.4762 puts / 133 calls
Call wall$370largest call OI
Put wall$325largest put OI
IV3019.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$66Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $290

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$345-3.3%24d
Fri, Dec 18$340-4.7%52d
Fri, Jan 15$330-7.5%80d
Fri, Feb 19$335-6.1%115d
Fri, Mar 19$340-4.7%143d
Fri, May 21$320-10.3%206d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot320230272314356398440$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 — 320 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot3202302552853203704207777
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CB 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

spot32023025528532037042011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot23027231435639844036%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 21.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 290230255285320370420+$69K−$69K
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
0.91-0.022850.00230.43-0.03-0.09
0.90-0.022900.00250.48-0.03-0.10
0.86-0.033050.00340.62-0.04-0.15
0.84-0.033100.00380.67-0.04-0.17
0.80-0.043200.00450.76-0.04-0.21
0.77-0.043250.00480.81-0.05-0.24
0.75-0.043300.00520.86-0.05-0.26
0.53-0.053650.00701.06-0.06-0.50
0.50-0.053700.00701.07-0.06-0.54
0.37-0.053900.00681.01-0.05-0.69
0.33-0.053950.00670.98-0.05-0.73
0.25-0.044100.00590.85-0.05-0.84
0.20-0.044200.00520.75-0.05-0.92
0.12-0.034400.00380.55-0.04-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1302202903353804253K0
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

spot1301902653253854454K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 23K call contracts, 19K 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: CB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk