Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:04 AM ET

CVLT max pain

Spot (delayed)$169.37
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$155-8.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$33.3±19.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.63397 puts / 632 calls
Call wall$170largest call OI
Put wall$155largest put OI
IV3064.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$53Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

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$150-11.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$105-38.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$155-8.5%81d
Fri, Mar 19$145-14.4%144d
Fri, Apr 16$155-8.5%172d
Thu, Jun 17$95-43.9%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15580108136164192220$4M$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 — 155 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot15580100125150175200319319
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CVLT 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

spot15580100125150175200100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot8010813616419222096%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 8580100125150175200+$83K−$83K
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
0.84-0.071350.00520.20-0.07-0.16
0.81-0.071400.00600.22-0.07-0.19
0.77-0.081450.00670.24-0.08-0.23
0.74-0.091500.00740.27-0.09-0.27
0.69-0.091550.00810.28-0.09-0.31
0.65-0.091600.00870.30-0.10-0.35
0.60-0.101650.00910.31-0.10-0.40
0.56-0.101700.00940.32-0.10-0.45
0.51-0.101750.00960.32-0.10-0.49
0.46-0.101800.00960.32-0.10-0.54
0.42-0.101850.00950.32-0.10-0.59
0.38-0.091900.00930.31-0.10-0.63
0.34-0.091950.00890.30-0.09-0.68
0.30-0.082000.00850.28-0.09-0.71
0.23-0.072100.00750.25-0.08-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4077.597.51351752303450
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

spot4072.595135180250420420
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 1K 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: CVLT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk