Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 2:43 AM ET

DGX max pain

Spot (delayed)$242.56
Max pain · Fri, May 21$200-17.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$36.05±14.9% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.4539 puts / 87 calls
Call wall$280largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3026.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$18Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $165

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 20$240-1.1%23d
Fri, Dec 18$230-5.2%51d
Fri, Feb 19$210-13.4%114d
Fri, May 21$200-17.5%205d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot200160194228262296330$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot2001601751902202502802222
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DGX open contracts per strike for Fri, May 21.

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, May 21

spot20016017519022025028011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot16019422826229633037%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 165160175190220250280+$10K−$10K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94—1800.00220.22-0.01-0.06
0.93-0.001850.00270.25-0.02-0.07
0.91-0.011900.00320.29-0.02-0.09
0.87-0.012000.00420.38-0.03-0.13
0.82-0.022100.00540.48-0.03-0.18
0.76-0.032200.00670.57-0.04-0.25
0.68-0.032300.00770.65-0.04-0.33
0.60-0.042400.00850.70-0.04-0.41
0.51-0.042500.00880.72-0.04-0.51
0.43-0.042600.00880.71-0.04-0.60
0.35-0.042700.00830.67-0.04-0.68
0.28-0.042800.00760.61-0.03-0.77
0.17-0.033000.00570.47-0.03-0.91
0.07-0.013300.00310.27-0.06-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1301601852202703208310
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

spot1251551852302903501K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 4K 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: DGX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk