Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 6:54 PM ET

EXPE max pain

Spot (delayed)$281.01
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$300+6.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$75.25±26.8% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI4.93212 puts / 43 calls
Call wall$310largest call OI
Put wall$160largest put OI
IV3060.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$28Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $160

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$270-3.9%4d
Fri, Nov 6$285+1.4%11d
Fri, Nov 13$285+1.4%18d
Fri, Nov 20$280-0.4%25d
Fri, Nov 27$275-2.1%32d
Fri, Dec 4$225-19.9%39d
Fri, Dec 18$230-18.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$250-11.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$260-7.5%144d
Fri, Apr 16$300+6.8%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot300135206277348419490$2M$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 — 300 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot3001351802202703204007777
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EXPE 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

spot30013518022027032040011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot13520627734841949055%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 160135180220270320400+$9K−$9K
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
0.86-0.052100.00230.44-0.07-0.15
0.82-0.062200.00260.50-0.07-0.18
0.79-0.072300.00290.56-0.08-0.21
0.76-0.082400.00320.61-0.09-0.25
0.72-0.092500.00350.65-0.09-0.29
0.68-0.092600.00370.69-0.10-0.33
0.64-0.102700.00390.72-0.10-0.37
0.60-0.102800.00410.75-0.11-0.41
0.56-0.102900.00420.76-0.11-0.46
0.52-0.103000.00420.77-0.11-0.50
0.48-0.103100.00430.77-0.11-0.54
0.44-0.103200.00420.76-0.10-0.58
0.40-0.103300.00420.74-0.10-0.62
0.37-0.103400.00410.72-0.10-0.66
0.30-0.093600.00380.67-0.09-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot170245285307.53303701K0
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

spot701451952603053956K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 31K call contracts, 39K 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: EXPE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk