Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 16, 2:13 PM ET

EWBC max pain

Spot (delayed)$128.6
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$95-26.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.65±13.7% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.022 puts / 128 calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3029.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$34Kper 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, Oct 16$130+1.1%today
Fri, Nov 20$120-6.7%35d
Fri, Jan 15$120-6.7%91d
Fri, Apr 16$95-26.1%182d
Fri, May 21$90-30.0%217d
Thu, Jun 17$120-6.7%244d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot958095110125140155$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 — 95 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot95801101251351451554646
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EWBC 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

spot958011012513514515511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot809511012514015545%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot80110125135145155+$13K−$13K
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
0.96-0.01800.00320.08-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.02950.00560.15-0.02-0.10
0.80-0.021100.01060.24-0.02-0.20
0.75-0.021150.01300.28-0.02-0.26
0.59-0.021250.01760.34-0.02-0.41
0.50-0.021300.01860.35-0.02-0.50
0.41-0.021350.01840.35-0.02-0.59
0.33-0.021400.01700.33-0.02-0.68
0.27-0.021450.01500.30-0.02-0.74
0.22-0.021500.01290.27-0.02-0.79
0.18-0.021550.01110.24-0.02-0.83

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

spot60951151351552720
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

spot5075100125150175314314
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 551 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: EWBC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk