Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 19, 11:35 AM ET

CCJ max pain

Spot (delayed)$82.6
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$90+9.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15±18.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.3732K puts / 86K calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3048.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.0Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $23

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$86+4.1%4d
Fri, Oct 30$93+12.6%11d
Fri, Nov 6$89+7.7%18d
Fri, Nov 13$92+11.4%25d
Fri, Nov 20$90+9.0%32d
Fri, Nov 27$89+7.7%39d
Fri, Dec 18$95+15.0%60d
Fri, Jan 15$90+9.0%88d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot90205590125160195$557M$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot902038609513016525K25K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CCJ 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

spot9020386095130165110110
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot205590125160195141%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 2320386095130165+$593K−$593K
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
0.98-0.01500.00220.02-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01550.00420.03-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01600.00720.06-0.01-0.07
0.87-0.02650.01110.09-0.02-0.13
0.80-0.03700.01520.12-0.03-0.21
0.70-0.04750.01870.14-0.04-0.30
0.60-0.04800.02110.16-0.04-0.41
0.49-0.04850.02180.16-0.04-0.52
0.39-0.04900.02110.16-0.04-0.62
0.30-0.04950.01920.14-0.04-0.71
0.23-0.031000.01660.12-0.03-0.79
0.17-0.031050.01380.10-0.03-0.85
0.13-0.021100.01120.09-0.03-0.90
0.10-0.021150.00910.07-0.02-0.94
0.08-0.021200.00740.06-0.02-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 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

spot7084931021111201K0
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

spot4070859812515585K85K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 159K call contracts, 243K 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: CCJ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk