Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 5:48 PM ET

DUOL max pain

Spot (delayed)$141.59
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$135-4.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$33.95±24.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.459K puts / 20K calls
Call wall$800largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3079.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$89Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $250

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$141-0.4%3d
Fri, Nov 6$146+3.1%10d
Fri, Nov 13$144+1.7%17d
Fri, Nov 20$136-3.9%24d
Fri, Nov 27$141-0.4%31d
Fri, Dec 4$140-1.1%38d
Fri, Dec 18$135-4.7%52d
Fri, Jan 15$135-4.7%80d
Fri, Feb 19$140-1.1%115d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot13550200350500650800$695M$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 — 135 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot135501051552103104905K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DUOL 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

spot13550105155210310490500500
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot50200350500650800132%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 25050100145190270400+$91K−$91K
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
0.87-0.061050.00470.14-0.06-0.13
0.84-0.071100.00540.16-0.07-0.16
0.80-0.071150.00620.18-0.08-0.20
0.76-0.081200.00700.20-0.08-0.24
0.72-0.091250.00770.22-0.09-0.28
0.68-0.091300.00820.24-0.10-0.32
0.63-0.101350.00870.25-0.10-0.37
0.59-0.101400.00910.26-0.10-0.41
0.54-0.101450.00930.26-0.10-0.46
0.49-0.101500.00940.27-0.10-0.51
0.45-0.101550.00930.26-0.10-0.55
0.41-0.101600.00920.26-0.10-0.59
0.37-0.101650.00890.25-0.10-0.64
0.33-0.091700.00860.24-0.09-0.67
0.30-0.091750.00820.23-0.09-0.71

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot95129138147165187.56420
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

spot501051481802704606K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 46K call contracts, 27K 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: DUOL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk