Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 2:18 AM ET

DSGN max pain

Spot (delayed)$10.24
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$8-21.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.15±40.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.039 puts / 339 calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3099.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $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, Nov 20$11+7.4%26d
Fri, Dec 18$10-2.3%54d
Fri, Jan 15$8-21.9%82d
Fri, Apr 16$12+17.2%173d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot83814192530$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 — 8 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot838121725157157
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DSGN 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

spot83812172511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot51015202530242%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 94.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 538121725+$1K−$1K
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
0.97-0.0130.00840.01-0.01-0.04
0.92-0.0150.02020.01-0.01-0.09
0.85-0.0170.04050.01-0.01-0.16
0.80-0.0180.05390.01-0.01-0.22
0.65-0.01100.07500.02-0.01-0.37
0.57-0.01110.07700.02-0.01-0.44
0.52-0.01120.07480.02-0.01-0.51
0.39-0.01150.06270.02-0.01-0.63
0.37-0.01160.05900.02-0.01-0.66
0.34-0.01170.05570.02-0.01-0.68
0.27-0.01220.04370.02-0.01-0.76
0.26-0.01230.04190.02-0.01-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot31216202421K0
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

spot161116212621K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 37K call contracts, 163 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: DSGN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk