Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 5:54 AM ET

EG max pain

Spot (delayed)$374.72
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$350-6.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$34.95±9.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.11130 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$450largest call OI
Put wall$310largest put OI
IV3025.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$529Kper 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 16$380+1.4%2d
Fri, Nov 20$380+1.4%37d
Fri, Jan 15$350-6.6%93d
Fri, Apr 16$390+4.1%184d
Fri, May 21$350-6.6%219d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot350220274328382436490$6M$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 — 350 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3502202703203704204701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EG 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

spot350220270320370420470302302
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot23028233438643849054%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 250220290340390440490+$463K−$463K
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
0.94-0.023000.00210.21-0.03-0.06
0.92-0.033100.00280.27-0.04-0.08
0.89-0.043200.00360.35-0.05-0.11
0.85-0.053300.00470.43-0.06-0.15
0.81-0.063400.00580.52-0.07-0.20
0.74-0.073500.00710.61-0.08-0.26
0.67-0.083600.00820.69-0.09-0.34
0.58-0.093700.00900.74-0.09-0.43
0.49-0.093800.00940.75-0.09-0.52
0.40-0.083900.00910.73-0.09-0.62
0.32-0.084000.00840.68-0.08-0.70
0.24-0.074100.00740.60-0.07-0.78
0.19-0.064200.00620.52-0.05-0.83
0.14-0.054300.00510.44-0.04-0.88
0.11-0.044400.00420.36-0.03-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2202903503904304701K0
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

spot2102703303904505101K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 1K 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: EG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk