Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 3:00 PM ET

DINO max pain

Spot (delayed)$120.05
Max pain · Fri, May 21$100-16.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$37.6±31.3% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.71351 puts / 494 calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3057.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$14Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

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$115-4.2%24d
Fri, Dec 18$90-25.0%52d
Fri, Jan 15$65-45.9%80d
Fri, Mar 19$115-4.2%143d
Fri, May 21$100-16.7%206d
Thu, Jun 17$110-8.4%233d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot100507498122146170$3M$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot100507587.5100125150134134
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DINO 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

spot100507587.510012515011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot50749812214617077%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 705077.590105130155+$15K−$15K
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
0.83-0.0292.50.00570.23-0.03-0.18
0.81-0.02950.00600.25-0.03-0.20
0.79-0.0397.50.00640.26-0.03-0.22
0.77-0.031000.00670.28-0.03-0.24
0.73-0.031050.00730.30-0.04-0.28
0.69-0.041100.00770.32-0.04-0.33
0.65-0.041150.00810.33-0.04-0.37
0.60-0.041200.00830.35-0.04-0.41
0.56-0.041250.00850.35-0.04-0.45
0.52-0.041300.00850.36-0.04-0.49
0.49-0.041350.00850.36-0.04-0.53
0.45-0.041400.00840.35-0.04-0.57
0.42-0.041450.00820.35-0.04-0.60
0.39-0.041500.00800.34-0.04-0.64
0.36-0.041550.00780.33-0.04-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot32.55575951301705K0
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

spot22.54567.5901251706K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 38K call contracts, 22K 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: DINO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk