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

CG max pain

Spot (delayed)$38.75
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$47.5+22.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.2±16.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.5212K puts / 23K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$47.5largest put OI
IV3047.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$91Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

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$37.5-3.2%25d
Fri, Dec 18$42.5+9.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$47.5+22.6%81d
Fri, Mar 19$42.5+9.7%144d
Thu, Jun 17$40+3.2%234d
Fri, Jan 21$42.5+9.7%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot47.51834516784100$101M$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 — 47.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot47.517.53042.55567.5857K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CG 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

spot47.517.53042.55567.58566
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1834516784100100%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 3017.53042.55567.585+$204K−$204K
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
0.990.00200.00210.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0022.50.00510.01-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.01250.00930.01-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.0127.50.01440.03-0.01-0.07
0.88-0.01300.02140.04-0.01-0.12
0.82-0.0132.50.03080.05-0.01-0.19
0.72-0.02350.04100.06-0.02-0.28
0.61-0.0237.50.04920.07-0.02-0.40
0.48-0.02400.05260.07-0.02-0.53
0.36-0.0242.50.05000.07-0.02-0.66
0.26-0.01450.04300.06-0.01-0.77
0.18-0.0147.50.03450.05-0.01-0.85
0.12-0.01500.02640.04-0.01-0.91
0.09-0.0152.50.01980.03-0.01-0.95
0.06-0.01550.01470.02-0.00-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot17.532.54557.570908K0
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

spot17.53042.55567.58523K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 46K call contracts, 61K 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: CG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk