Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:47 AM ET

FDMT max pain

Spot (delayed)$10.8
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$5-53.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.75±62.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.0125 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$13largest put OI
IV3077.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15Kper 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$10-7.4%25d
Fri, Jan 15$5-53.7%81d
Fri, Apr 16$8-25.9%172d
Fri, Jul 16$12+11.1%263d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5258121518$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot5271013161K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FDMT 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

spot52710131611
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot5810131518196%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 82.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot27101316+$11K−$11K
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
0.98-0.0020.00380.00-0.00-0.02
0.94-0.0150.01780.01-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.0160.02680.01-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.0170.03950.01-0.01-0.12
0.83-0.0180.05700.01-0.01-0.17
0.76-0.0190.07860.02-0.01-0.24
0.66-0.01100.09840.02-0.01-0.34
0.55-0.01110.10680.02-0.01-0.45
0.46-0.01120.10300.02-0.01-0.54
0.39-0.01130.09380.02-0.01-0.62
0.34-0.01140.08380.02-0.01-0.67
0.29-0.01150.07490.02-0.01-0.71
0.26-0.01160.06730.02-0.01-0.75
0.24-0.01170.06090.02-0.01-0.77
0.21-0.01180.05550.01-0.01-0.79

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

spot28121620301K0
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

spot28142026321K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 104 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: FDMT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk