Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:55 AM ET

CGON max pain

Spot (delayed)$62
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$70+12.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$23.8±38.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.051K puts / 22K calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV30117.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$901Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $55

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$65+4.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$60-3.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$70+12.9%81d
Fri, Apr 16$65+4.8%172d
Fri, Jan 21$70+12.9%452d
Fri, Jan 19$60-3.2%816d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot703551678399115$56M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot70355065809511012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CGON 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

spot7035506580951104141
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3551678399115125%93%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 103.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 5540557085100115+$571K−$571K
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
0.90-0.04350.00490.05-0.04-0.10
0.86-0.05400.00650.07-0.05-0.14
0.81-0.05450.00820.08-0.05-0.19
0.75-0.06500.00980.09-0.06-0.25
0.69-0.07550.01120.10-0.07-0.31
0.63-0.07600.01230.11-0.07-0.37
0.56-0.07650.01300.12-0.07-0.44
0.50-0.07700.01340.12-0.07-0.50
0.44-0.07750.01340.12-0.07-0.56
0.39-0.07800.01310.11-0.07-0.62
0.34-0.06850.01260.11-0.06-0.67
0.29-0.06900.01190.10-0.06-0.72
0.25-0.05950.01110.09-0.06-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3555708510011512K0
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

spot355065809511012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 32K call contracts, 8K 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: CGON workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk