Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:38 AM ET

DTCR max pain

Spot (delayed)$26
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$20-23.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.38±16.8% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.3960 puts / 153 calls
Call wall$24largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3026.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 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$26+0.0%26d
Fri, Dec 18$26+0.0%54d
Fri, Jan 15$22-15.4%82d
Fri, Apr 16$20-23.1%173d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20152025303540$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot201522252831405656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DTCR open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot201522252831403535
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot20242832364045%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 20152225283140+$2K−$2K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.00150.01150.02-0.00-0.06
0.86-0.00200.03130.04-0.01-0.15
0.83-0.01210.03800.05-0.01-0.18
0.79-0.01220.04580.05-0.01-0.22
0.75-0.01230.05460.06-0.01-0.27
0.69-0.01240.06390.06-0.01-0.33
0.63-0.01250.07260.07-0.01-0.40
0.55-0.01260.07900.07-0.01-0.48
0.47-0.01270.08140.07-0.01-0.57
0.40-0.01280.07930.07-0.01-0.65
0.33-0.01290.07380.06-0.01-0.72
0.28-0.01300.06650.06-0.01-0.79
0.23-0.00310.05900.05-0.01-0.84
0.17-0.00330.04560.04-0.01-0.91
0.12-0.00360.03160.04-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1523273135392180
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

spot1521263136232232
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 348 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: DTCR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk