Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 2:11 PM ET

ES max pain

Spot (delayed)$66
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$70+6.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.88±8.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.50812 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3018.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$87Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $75

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$65-1.5%29d
Fri, Dec 18$65-1.5%57d
Fri, Jan 15$70+6.1%85d
Fri, Apr 16$65-1.5%176d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot703548617487100$4M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot7035557085100536536
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ES 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

spot703555708510011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot354861748710076%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 7535557085100+$103K−$103K
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
0.99—350.00180.01-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.00450.00530.02-0.01-0.05
0.94-0.01500.00940.03-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.01550.01740.05-0.01-0.12
0.82-0.01600.03450.08-0.01-0.22
0.61-0.01650.06410.12-0.01-0.43
0.30-0.01700.05610.11-0.01-0.73
0.15-0.01750.03110.08-0.01-0.86
0.10-0.01800.01860.05-0.00-0.92
0.07-0.01850.01230.04-0.00-0.94
0.05-0.01900.00870.03—-0.96
0.04-0.01950.00650.03—-0.97
0.03-0.011000.00500.02—-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot50657585952K0
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

spot35506580952K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K 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: ES workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk