Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 20, 1:45 AM ET

CPA max pain

Spot (delayed)$131.73
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$110-16.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.6±15.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.93933 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$170largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3033.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$39Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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$125-5.1%26d
Fri, Nov 20$135+2.5%61d
Fri, Dec 18$125-5.1%89d
Fri, Jan 15$110-16.5%117d
Fri, Feb 19$120-8.9%152d
Fri, May 21$80-39.3%243d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1105590125160195230$7M$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1105585115145175210429429
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CPA 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

spot110558511514517521011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot559012516019523086%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 855585115145175210+$60K$60K
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
0.93-0.02950.00430.10-0.02-0.09
0.91-0.031000.00560.13-0.03-0.11
0.88-0.031050.00710.15-0.03-0.14
0.84-0.031100.00890.18-0.03-0.18
0.79-0.041150.01100.22-0.04-0.23
0.73-0.041200.01300.25-0.04-0.29
0.66-0.041250.01480.27-0.04-0.36
0.58-0.041300.01600.29-0.04-0.44
0.50-0.041350.01650.30-0.04-0.52
0.42-0.041400.01610.29-0.04-0.60
0.35-0.041450.01510.28-0.04-0.67
0.29-0.041500.01370.26-0.04-0.73
0.24-0.031550.01220.23-0.03-0.78
0.20-0.031600.01070.21-0.03-0.82
0.16-0.031650.00930.18-0.03-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot901151351551752002830
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

spot5585115145175210956956
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 4K 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: CPA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk