Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 2, 6:37 PM ET

CVS max pain

Spot (delayed)$88.68
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.63±12.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.0657K puts / 54K calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3039.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 5.6% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Event risk before this expiration: 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 6$90+1.5%4d
Fri, Nov 13$90+1.5%11d
Fri, Nov 20$92+3.7%18d
Fri, Nov 27$90+1.5%25d
Fri, Dec 4$92+3.7%32d
Fri, Dec 11too thin39d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides46d
Fri, Jan 15one strike decides74d
Fri, Feb 19$90+1.5%109d
Fri, Mar 19$90+1.5%137d
Fri, May 21$87.5-1.3%200d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 5.6% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot22.542.562.582.510514510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CVS 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

spot60708090100125742742
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot235078105133160113%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 8525456585110150+$570K−$570K
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
0.94-0.01700.00830.05-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.0172.50.01090.07-0.02-0.09
0.88-0.02750.01400.08-0.02-0.13
0.83-0.0277.50.01730.10-0.02-0.17
0.79-0.03800.02070.12-0.03-0.22
0.73-0.0382.50.02400.13-0.03-0.28
0.66-0.03850.02680.15-0.03-0.34
0.59-0.0487.50.02880.15-0.04-0.42
0.52-0.04900.03000.16-0.04-0.49
0.44-0.0492.50.03000.16-0.04-0.57
0.37-0.03950.02900.15-0.03-0.65
0.31-0.0397.50.02720.14-0.03-0.72
0.24-0.031000.02460.13-0.03-0.78
0.15-0.021050.01830.09-0.02-0.89
0.09-0.011100.01240.07-0.02-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 44 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5086931011101455K0
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

spot22.555788910011514K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 152K call contracts, 147K 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.

Max pain, walls and gamma print only when an expiration holds at least 100 open contracts across 5 strikes, and max pain also needs to stay within 5% of spot when its single heaviest strike is removed. Below that the expiration reads as thin rather than printing a level one trade could move.

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: CVS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk