Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 3:10 AM ET

COR max pain

Spot (delayed)$330.11
Max pain · Fri, May 21$320-3.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$60.65±18.4% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI1.4831 puts / 21 calls
Call wall$420largest call OI
Put wall$320largest put OI
IV3034.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $270

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 16$310-6.1%2d
Fri, Nov 20$310-6.1%37d
Fri, Dec 18$310-6.1%65d
Fri, Jan 15$310-6.1%93d
Fri, Feb 19$360+9.1%128d
Fri, Mar 19$310-6.1%156d
Fri, May 21$320-3.1%219d
Fri, Sep 17$190-42.4%338d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot320190236282328374420$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 — 320 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot3201902102703504201414
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)COR open contracts per strike for Fri, May 21.

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, May 21

spot32019021027035042011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot19023628232837442043%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 270190210270350420+$6K−$6K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97—1950.00070.18-0.02-0.03
0.96—2000.00070.20-0.02-0.04
0.95—2100.00090.25-0.02-0.05
0.94-0.012200.00120.29-0.03-0.06
0.91-0.022400.00170.42-0.03-0.09
0.84-0.042700.00280.63-0.05-0.17
0.68-0.063100.00450.91-0.06-0.33
0.64-0.063200.00480.96-0.07-0.38
0.48-0.063500.00541.02-0.07-0.54
0.38-0.063700.00530.97-0.06-0.66
0.33-0.063800.00520.92-0.06-0.72
0.17-0.044200.00370.66-0.04-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1352102803504205001K0
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

spot1251652102903704502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 5K 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: COR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk