Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 31, 9:28 AM ET

CM max pain

Spot (delayed)$116.48
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$105-9.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.2±8.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.353K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3022.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$34Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $75

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$115-1.3%20d
Fri, Dec 18$115-1.3%48d
Fri, Jan 15$105-9.9%76d
Fri, Mar 19$115-1.3%139d
Thu, Jun 17$120+3.0%229d
Fri, Jan 21$110-5.6%447d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot105305580105130155$19M$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1053057.572.587.51051352K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CM 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

spot1053057.572.587.510513555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot58779711613615571%18%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 7535607590110140+$409K−$409K
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
0.96-0.01900.00480.05-0.01-0.05
0.95-0.0192.50.00600.06-0.01-0.06
0.94-0.01950.00740.07-0.02-0.08
0.92-0.0297.50.00920.08-0.02-0.09
0.90-0.021000.01140.09-0.02-0.11
0.85-0.021050.01740.12-0.02-0.17
0.76-0.031100.02600.17-0.03-0.27
0.61-0.031150.03500.20-0.03-0.41
0.43-0.031200.03750.21-0.03-0.59
0.27-0.021250.03060.18-0.02-0.75
0.17-0.021300.02170.14-0.02-0.85
0.11-0.011350.01500.10-0.02-0.92
0.08-0.011400.01050.08-0.02-0.96
0.06-0.011450.00760.06-0.01-0.98
0.04-0.011500.00560.05-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot607587.51001251503K0
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

spot3057.57592.51201553K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 11K call contracts, 9K 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: CM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk