Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 29, 11:53 PM ET

CBRG max pain

Spot (delayed)$0.95
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$1+5.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2±210.5% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.44333 puts / 765 calls
Call wall$1largest call OI
Put wall$2largest put OI
IV30183.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$60per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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$2+110.5%20d
Fri, Dec 18$3+215.8%48d
Fri, Mar 19$3+215.8%139d
Thu, Jun 17$1+5.3%229d
Fri, Jan 21$1+5.3%447d
Fri, Jan 19$3+215.8%811d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1123567$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 — 1 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot11357351351
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CBRG open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 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, Jan 21

spot1135711
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot123567255%113%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 128.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot1357+$44−$44
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.760.0010.15890.000.00-0.18
0.67-0.0020.16120.00-0.00-0.26
0.64-0.0030.15520.00-0.00-0.29
0.62-0.0040.15050.00-0.00-0.32
0.60-0.0050.14690.00-0.00-0.35
0.59-0.0060.14410.00-0.00-0.37
0.58-0.0070.14180.00-0.00-0.39

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

spot1591317307K0
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

spot15913172111K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 19K call contracts, 22K 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: CBRG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk