Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 1:37 AM ET

DAN max pain

Spot (delayed)$29.05
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$30+3.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.9±20.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.691K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3054.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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$29-0.2%30d
Fri, Dec 18$30+3.3%58d
Fri, Jan 15$30+3.3%86d
Fri, Feb 19$29-0.2%121d
Fri, Mar 19$30+3.3%149d
Thu, Jun 17$35+20.5%239d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30101724313845$2M$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot301015202530401K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DAN 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

spot3010152025304011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot101724313845203%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 40101520253040+$26K−$26K
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
0.95-0.01130.00620.01-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01150.00830.02-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.01180.01320.02-0.01-0.10
0.88-0.01200.01790.03-0.01-0.12
0.84-0.01220.02450.03-0.01-0.16
0.75-0.01250.03850.04-0.01-0.25
0.67-0.01270.04920.05-0.01-0.33
0.50-0.01300.05670.06-0.01-0.50
0.30-0.02350.04360.05-0.01-0.71
0.20-0.01400.03070.04-0.01-0.81
0.15-0.01450.02250.03-0.01-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1325293337501K0
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

spot1021273339452K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 5K 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: DAN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk