Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 10:21 PM ET

CIFG max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.38
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$2+44.9% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.1820 puts / 114 calls
Call wall$2largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV30265.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$29per 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, Nov 20$4+189.9%26d
Fri, Jan 15$2+44.9%82d
Fri, Apr 16$2+44.9%173d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot21713182430$1M$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 — 2 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot214811152828
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CIFG 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

spot2148111522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1713182430430%183%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 222.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1491430+$9−$9
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
0.86-0.0010.12930.00-0.00-0.17
0.72-0.0020.17490.00-0.00-0.31
0.64-0.0030.18200.00-0.00-0.39
0.58-0.0140.18210.00-0.00-0.45
0.54-0.0150.18000.00-0.00-0.49
0.51-0.0160.17720.00-0.00-0.53
0.46-0.0180.17100.00-0.00-0.58
0.44-0.0190.16800.00-0.00-0.60

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 8 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot147101430420
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

spot16111621114114
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 218 call contracts, 158 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: CIFG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk