Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 11:24 PM ET

FFIN max pain

Spot (delayed)$30.81
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$17.5-43.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.3±14.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.6720 puts / 30 calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3042.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30
Earnings · expectedFri, Oct 23usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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$30-2.6%3d
Fri, Jan 15$17.5-43.2%94d← 1st expiry after earnings (Fri, Oct 23)
Fri, Apr 16$30-2.6%185d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.5182125283235$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot17.517.5202530352020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FFIN 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

spot17.517.52025303511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot182125283235105%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 3017.520253035+$887−$887
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
0.94-0.0117.50.00900.02-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.01200.01370.02-0.01-0.09
0.84-0.01250.03220.04-0.01-0.17
0.61-0.01300.07430.06-0.01-0.40
0.27-0.01350.06230.05-0.01-0.74

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

spot17.5253545220
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

spot17.522.53040502222
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 57 call contracts, 26 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: FFIN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk