Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:25 PM ET

EMB max pain

Spot (delayed)$92.1
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$89.75-2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.73±4.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI7.557K puts / 880 calls
Call wall$92.75largest call OI
Put wall$79.75largest put OI
IV3010.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2.1Mper 1% move

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$91-1.2%26d
Fri, Dec 18$92-0.1%54d
Fri, Jan 15$89.75-2.6%82d
Fri, Mar 19$92-0.1%145d
Thu, Jun 17$91-1.2%235d
Fri, Jan 21$95+3.1%453d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot89.7545627996113130$27M$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 — 89.75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot89.754583.7588.7593.7598.75104.753K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EMB 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

spot89.754583.7588.7593.7598.75104.7511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot809010011012013036%4%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 10.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot4583.7588.7593.7598.75104.75+$1.3M−$1.3M
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
0.93-0.0184.750.03990.06-0.01-0.14
0.90-0.0185.750.05070.08-0.01-0.17
0.86-0.0186.750.06300.10-0.01-0.20
0.81-0.0187.750.07530.12-0.01-0.25
0.74-0.0188.750.08600.14-0.01-0.31
0.66-0.0189.750.09450.15-0.01-0.38
0.57-0.0190.750.09990.17-0.01-0.47
0.47-0.0191.750.10150.17-0.01-0.57
0.37-0.0192.750.09700.16-0.01-0.66
0.28-0.0193.750.08570.15-0.01-0.75
0.22-0.0194.750.07020.13-0.01-0.81
0.18-0.0195.750.05670.12-0.01-0.84
0.16-0.0196.750.04690.11-0.01-0.86
0.14-0.0197.750.03960.10-0.01-0.88
0.13-0.0198.750.03410.09-0.01-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4588.7591.7593.7595.7597.752K0
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

spot4579.7586.7593.75100.75109.7525K25K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 66K 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: EMB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk