Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 3:10 AM ET

CHKP max pain

Spot (delayed)$159.84
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$120-24.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.2±16.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.036K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3054.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$654Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $160

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$140-12.4%23d
Fri, Dec 18$140-12.4%51d
Fri, Jan 15$120-24.9%79d
Fri, Apr 16$140-12.4%170d
Thu, Jun 17$70-56.2%232d
Fri, Jan 21$90-43.7%450d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1206090120150180210$41M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot12060851101351601852K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CHKP 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

spot120608511013516018544
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot6090120150180210127%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 1606085110135160185+$338K−$338K
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
0.89-0.041250.00510.14-0.04-0.11
0.86-0.041300.00630.16-0.05-0.14
0.83-0.051350.00750.19-0.05-0.17
0.78-0.061400.00880.22-0.06-0.22
0.73-0.071450.00990.25-0.07-0.27
0.68-0.071500.01090.27-0.07-0.33
0.62-0.081550.01160.29-0.08-0.39
0.56-0.081600.01200.29-0.08-0.45
0.50-0.081650.01220.30-0.08-0.51
0.44-0.081700.01210.29-0.08-0.57
0.38-0.081750.01170.29-0.08-0.63
0.33-0.071800.01110.27-0.07-0.68
0.29-0.071850.01040.26-0.07-0.73
0.24-0.061900.00960.24-0.07-0.77
0.21-0.061950.00870.21-0.06-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot6011014017020026012K0
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

spot609513016520027013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 44K call contracts, 24K 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: CHKP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk