Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 12:30 AM ET

DAVE max pain

Spot (delayed)$316.71
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$220-30.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$90.8±28.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.291K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$370largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3088.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$989Kper 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, Oct 30$360+13.7%4d
Fri, Nov 6$370+16.8%11d
Fri, Nov 13$365+15.2%18d
Fri, Nov 20$300-5.3%25d
Fri, Nov 27$350+10.5%32d
Fri, Dec 4$420+32.6%39d
Fri, Dec 18$390+23.1%53d
Fri, Jan 15$220-30.5%81d
Fri, Apr 16$360+13.7%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22020148276404532660$150M$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 — 220 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2202085170240350450948948
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DAVE 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

spot220208517024035045044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot40164288412536660256%72%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 75.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 8580140210310400500+$313K−$313K
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
0.84-0.172400.00200.37-0.18-0.16
0.82-0.192500.00220.41-0.20-0.18
0.79-0.202600.00240.44-0.21-0.21
0.76-0.222700.00260.47-0.23-0.24
0.73-0.232800.00280.51-0.24-0.27
0.66-0.263000.00320.56-0.26-0.34
0.63-0.263100.00330.58-0.27-0.38
0.59-0.273200.00340.59-0.27-0.41
0.56-0.273300.00340.60-0.28-0.45
0.52-0.283400.00350.61-0.28-0.48
0.49-0.283500.00350.61-0.28-0.51
0.46-0.273600.00350.60-0.28-0.55
0.43-0.273700.00350.60-0.27-0.58
0.40-0.273800.00340.59-0.27-0.61
0.37-0.263900.00330.57-0.26-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2003403704054454853250
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

spot201602203104004955K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 11K call contracts, 11K 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: DAVE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk