Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 11:03 PM ET

FDS max pain

Spot (delayed)$331.32
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$310-6.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$56.25±17.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI11.602K puts / 141 calls
Call wall$310largest call OI
Put wall$310largest put OI
IV3043.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$806Kper 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$290-12.5%27d
Fri, Dec 18$270-18.5%55d
Fri, Jan 15$310-6.4%83d
Fri, Feb 19$300-9.5%118d
Fri, Mar 19$310-6.4%146d
Thu, Jun 17$220-33.6%236d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot310130194258322386450$29M$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 — 310 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3101302002503003504302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FDS 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

spot31013020025030035043011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot130194258322386450120%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot130200250310360440+$818K−$818K
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
0.88-0.102600.00260.33-0.10-0.13
0.85-0.112700.00310.38-0.11-0.15
0.81-0.122800.00360.43-0.12-0.19
0.77-0.132900.00410.48-0.14-0.23
0.72-0.143000.00460.53-0.15-0.28
0.67-0.153100.00500.57-0.15-0.33
0.62-0.163200.00540.60-0.16-0.39
0.56-0.163300.00570.62-0.17-0.44
0.51-0.163400.00580.63-0.17-0.50
0.45-0.163500.00580.63-0.17-0.56
0.40-0.163600.00560.61-0.16-0.61
0.35-0.153700.00540.59-0.15-0.67
0.22-0.124000.00430.47-0.12-0.79
0.19-0.114100.00390.43-0.11-0.82
0.14-0.094300.00320.35-0.09-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1051902403003604204450
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

spot1051451852503304102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 7K 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: FDS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk