Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:06 AM ET

DNUT max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.85
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$4+40.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.8±28.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.389K puts / 24K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$2.5largest put OI
IV3074.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $1.5

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$3+5.3%4d
Fri, Nov 6$3+5.3%11d
Fri, Nov 13$3+5.3%18d
Fri, Nov 20$3.5+22.8%25d
Fri, Nov 27$3+5.3%32d
Fri, Dec 4$3+5.3%39d
Fri, Dec 18$3+5.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$4+40.4%81d
Fri, Feb 19$3.5+22.8%116d
Fri, Mar 19$1.5-47.4%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4159141823$30M$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 — 4 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot40.523.551017.55K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DNUT 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

spot40.523.551017.544
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1510141823215%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 1.50.523.551017.5+$5K−$5K
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
0.98-0.000.50.01390.00-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.0010.04020.00-0.00-0.04
0.92-0.001.50.09190.00-0.00-0.08
0.85-0.0020.19660.00-0.00-0.14
0.71-0.002.50.38280.01-0.00-0.29
0.48-0.0030.47960.01-0.00-0.52
0.32-0.003.50.38500.01-0.00-0.69
0.23-0.0040.29090.00-0.00-0.78
0.18-0.004.50.22670.00-0.00-0.83
0.15-0.0050.18290.00-0.00-0.87
0.12-0.005.50.15190.00-0.00-0.90
0.07-0.007.50.08660.00-0.00-0.95
0.04-0.00100.05350.00-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 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

spot0.523.557950
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

spot0.52.54.57.517.511K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 46K call contracts, 24K 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: DNUT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk