Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 1:51 AM ET

DK max pain

Spot (delayed)$74.41
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$55-26.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.1±24.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.28693 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3064.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$153Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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$75+0.8%27d
Fri, Dec 18$70-5.9%55d
Fri, Jan 15$55-26.1%83d
Fri, Mar 19$57.5-22.7%146d
Fri, Apr 16$80+7.5%174d
Fri, May 21$65-12.6%209d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot551536577899120$11M$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot551532.547.562.577.595376376
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DK 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

spot551532.547.562.577.5951010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot20406080100120177%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 201532.5506580100+$33K−$33K
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
0.85-0.0357.50.01030.09-0.03-0.16
0.81-0.04600.01180.10-0.04-0.19
0.78-0.0462.50.01320.11-0.04-0.23
0.74-0.04650.01450.12-0.04-0.27
0.70-0.0567.50.01570.13-0.05-0.31
0.65-0.05700.01660.13-0.05-0.35
0.61-0.0572.50.01730.14-0.05-0.40
0.57-0.05750.01770.14-0.05-0.44
0.52-0.0577.50.01790.14-0.05-0.49
0.48-0.05800.01790.14-0.06-0.53
0.44-0.0582.50.01760.14-0.05-0.57
0.40-0.05850.01720.14-0.05-0.61
0.37-0.0587.50.01670.14-0.05-0.65
0.34-0.05900.01600.13-0.05-0.68
0.28-0.05950.01450.12-0.05-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot15355067.582.51052K0
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

spot1532.55067.5851152K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 11K call contracts, 3K 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: DK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk