Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:50 AM ET

CSTE max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.34
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$0.5-78.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.95±40.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.044 puts / 93 calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$0.5largest put OI
IV3065.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$108per 1% move · flip ≈ $2.5

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$2.5+6.8%25d
Fri, Jan 15$0.5-78.6%81d
Fri, Apr 16$2.5+6.8%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot0.5112345$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 — 0.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot0.50.52.558080
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CSTE 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

spot0.50.52.5511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Greeks by strike · Fri, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.000.50.02220.00-0.00-0.04
0.60-0.002.50.31580.01-0.00-0.43
0.26-0.0050.19680.00-0.00-0.78

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

spot2.551130
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

spot0.51.52.57.5113113
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 213 call contracts, 22 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: CSTE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk