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

CHKP max pain

Spot (delayed)$159.84
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$90-43.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$56.25±35.2% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.0978 puts / 848 calls
Call wall$180largest call OI
Put wall$140largest put OI
IV3054.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$103Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $80

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

spot906594123152181210$3M$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 21

spot906590115140170200528528
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CHKP 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

spot90659011514017020011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot659412315218121053%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 806590115140170200+$76K−$76K
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
0.83-0.011200.00330.44-0.02-0.17
0.81-0.011250.00360.48-0.02-0.19
0.79-0.021300.00390.51-0.02-0.22
0.77-0.021350.00420.54-0.03-0.24
0.74-0.021400.00440.57-0.03-0.27
0.69-0.021500.00480.63-0.03-0.33
0.67-0.021550.00500.65-0.03-0.35
0.64-0.031600.00520.66-0.03-0.38
0.61-0.031650.00530.68-0.03-0.41
0.59-0.031700.00540.69-0.03-0.44
0.54-0.031800.00560.70-0.03-0.50
0.51-0.031850.00560.71-0.03-0.53
0.49-0.031900.00560.71-0.03-0.56
0.46-0.031950.00560.70-0.03-0.59
0.44-0.032000.00560.70-0.03-0.62

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 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