Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 6:01 PM ET

CHRW max pain

Spot (delayed)$139.55
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$125-10.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.65±14.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.326K puts / 17K calls
Call wall$170largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3048.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $95

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$140+0.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$140+0.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$125-10.4%81d
Fri, Feb 19$145+3.9%116d
Fri, Apr 16$145+3.9%172d
Fri, May 21$125-10.4%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12550100150200250300$257M$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot12550901201602002803K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CHRW 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

spot125509012016020028066
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot50100150200250300117%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 955090120160200280+$453K−$453K
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
0.92-0.031050.00490.10-0.03-0.09
0.89-0.031100.00630.12-0.04-0.11
0.85-0.041150.00800.15-0.04-0.15
0.81-0.041200.00980.18-0.05-0.19
0.75-0.051250.01160.21-0.05-0.25
0.69-0.061300.01330.23-0.06-0.31
0.62-0.061350.01470.25-0.06-0.39
0.54-0.061400.01560.26-0.06-0.47
0.46-0.061450.01580.26-0.06-0.54
0.39-0.061500.01530.25-0.06-0.62
0.32-0.061550.01420.23-0.05-0.69
0.26-0.051600.01290.21-0.05-0.75
0.21-0.041650.01140.19-0.04-0.80
0.17-0.041700.00990.17-0.04-0.84
0.14-0.041750.00850.15-0.03-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 43 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot751051401752202903K0
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

spot45851151551952703K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 34K call contracts, 11K 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: CHRW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk