Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:18 PM ET

CSGP max pain

Spot (delayed)$33.33
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$35+5.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.93±20.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.314K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3063.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$71Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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$30-10.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$30-10.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$35+5.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$35+5.0%144d
Fri, Apr 16$35+5.0%172d
Thu, Jun 17$35+5.0%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3515416793119145$111M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot35153055801051354K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CSGP 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

spot35153055801051353434
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot15416793119145143%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 2015305580105+$66K−$66K
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
0.990.00150.00200.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0017.50.00400.01-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.00200.00730.01-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.0122.50.01240.02-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.01250.01960.03-0.01-0.11
0.73-0.02300.03730.05-0.02-0.27
0.51-0.02350.04710.06-0.02-0.50
0.30-0.02400.04130.06-0.02-0.71
0.17-0.01450.02920.04-0.01-0.85
0.10-0.01500.01910.03-0.01-0.93
0.06-0.01550.01240.02-0.01-0.98
0.04-0.01600.00820.01-0.00-1.00
0.03-0.00650.00560.01-0.00-1.00
0.02-0.00700.00400.01-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot153055801051354K0
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

spot1530558010513015K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 50K call contracts, 28K 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: CSGP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk