Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 18, 2:17 AM ET

CNDT max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.41
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$1.5+6.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.73±51.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.0141 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$2largest call OI
Put wall$1.5largest put OI
IV30117.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $1

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$1.5+6.4%34d
Fri, Jan 15$1.5+6.4%90d
Fri, Apr 16$1.5+6.4%181d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1.5112345$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 — 1.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1.50.511.52353K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CNDT 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

spot1.50.511.523511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot112345322%116%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 127.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 111.523+$3K−$3K
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
0.93-0.000.50.08280.00-0.00-0.07
0.80-0.0010.28000.00-0.00-0.20
0.57-0.001.50.50340.00-0.00-0.43
0.39-0.0020.45330.00-0.00-0.61
0.27-0.0030.31140.00-0.00-0.74
0.18-0.0050.20460.00-0.00-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.51.5353K0
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

spot0.51.5353K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 197 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: CNDT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk