Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 2:51 AM ET

CHTR max pain

Spot (delayed)$110.5
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$150+35.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.9±24.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.4317K puts / 41K calls
Call wall$300largest call OI
Put wall$115largest put OI
IV3076.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$313Kper 1% move

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, Oct 23$111+0.5%2d
Fri, Oct 30$112+1.4%9d
Fri, Nov 6$111+0.5%16d
Fri, Nov 13$120+8.6%23d
Fri, Nov 20$120+8.6%30d
Fri, Nov 27$110-0.5%37d
Fri, Dec 18$135+22.2%58d
Fri, Jan 15$150+35.7%86d
Fri, Mar 19$120+8.6%149d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15065180295410525640$1.5B$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 — 150 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot150651201652203104204K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CHTR 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

spot150651201652203104203737
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot65180295410525640150%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot65115155195270350+$295K−$295K
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
0.96-0.01650.00240.05-0.02-0.04
0.94-0.02700.00330.07-0.03-0.06
0.91-0.03750.00440.09-0.03-0.09
0.80-0.05900.00810.15-0.06-0.21
0.74-0.06950.00920.17-0.06-0.26
0.69-0.071000.01020.19-0.07-0.31
0.64-0.071050.01100.20-0.07-0.37
0.58-0.071100.01140.21-0.08-0.43
0.52-0.081150.01170.21-0.08-0.48
0.47-0.081200.01170.21-0.08-0.54
0.41-0.071250.01140.21-0.07-0.59
0.37-0.071300.01100.20-0.07-0.65
0.32-0.071350.01050.19-0.07-0.69
0.28-0.071400.00990.18-0.06-0.73
0.24-0.061450.00920.17-0.06-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 51 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot851061181301462002K0
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

spot5510314019028042022K22K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 150K call contracts, 60K 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: CHTR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk