Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:16 PM ET

DBX max pain

Spot (delayed)$37.73
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$35-7.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.23±5.9% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI0.1989 puts / 478 calls
Call wall$39largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3044.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$105Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $36

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$35-7.2%4d
Fri, Nov 6$35-7.2%11d
Fri, Nov 13$35-7.2%18d
Fri, Nov 20$34-9.9%25d
Fri, Nov 27$36-4.6%32d
Fri, Dec 4$36-4.6%39d
Fri, Dec 18$34-9.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$30-20.5%81d
Fri, Apr 16$34-9.9%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35202530354045$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot352032343739250250
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DBX open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 30.

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, Oct 30

spot352032343739118118
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot293235394245216%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spotflip 36243233.53637.539+$64K−$64K
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, Oct 30

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.01330.02160.00-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.0233.50.02890.00-0.02-0.03
0.96-0.02340.03910.00-0.02-0.04
0.92-0.04350.07290.01-0.04-0.08
0.84-0.06360.13340.01-0.06-0.16
0.77-0.0736.50.17330.01-0.07-0.23
0.68-0.08370.21200.01-0.08-0.33
0.56-0.0937.50.23740.02-0.09-0.44
0.44-0.09380.23870.02-0.09-0.56
0.33-0.0838.50.21630.01-0.08-0.67
0.24-0.07390.18070.01-0.07-0.76
0.13-0.05400.10990.01-0.04-0.88
0.01-0.00450.00750.00-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot20353738.5412690
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

spot1321293439476K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 22K 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: DBX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk