Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 12:00 AM ET

FE max pain

Spot (delayed)$45.21
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$55+21.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.75±12.7% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI3.732K puts / 614 calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3019.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$130Kper 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$46+1.7%2d
Fri, Nov 20$43-4.9%37d
Fri, Dec 18$50+10.6%65d
Fri, Jan 15$45-0.5%93d
Fri, Mar 19$45-0.5%156d
Fri, Apr 16$45-0.5%184d
Thu, Jun 17$55+21.7%246d
Fri, Sep 17$43-4.9%338d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55233140485765$5M$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot552330384555711711
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FE open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 17.

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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot55233038455566
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot23314048576557%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 19.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot2330384555+$79K−$79K
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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98—280.00640.01-0.00-0.05
0.96-0.00300.00970.03-0.00-0.06
0.93-0.00330.01500.05-0.00-0.09
0.90-0.00350.01900.06-0.00-0.12
0.84-0.00380.02830.09-0.01-0.18
0.78-0.00400.03680.11-0.01-0.24
0.66-0.01430.05080.13-0.01-0.36
0.55-0.01450.05750.14-0.01-0.47
0.44-0.01470.05860.14-0.01-0.58
0.29-0.01500.04990.12-0.00-0.73
0.15-0.00550.03060.09-0.00-0.88
0.09-0.00600.01850.060.00-0.95
0.06-0.00650.01180.04—-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3842454855753K0
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

spot2335404550759K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 35K call contracts, 21K 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: FE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk