Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 13, 3:15 AM ET

FICO max pain

Spot (delayed)$985.47
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$1,220+23.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$244.8±24.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.97849 puts / 874 calls
Call wall$1,300largest call OI
Put wall$1,260largest put OI
Net GEX−$69Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · 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, Sep 18$1,000+1.5%5d
Fri, Oct 16$1,100+11.6%33d
Fri, Nov 20$1,020+3.5%68d
Fri, Dec 18$1,120+13.7%96d
Fri, Jan 15$1,220+23.8%124d
Fri, Mar 19$1,060+7.6%187d
Fri, Apr 16$940-4.6%215d
Thu, Jun 17$1,100+11.6%277d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12204609581456195424522950$124M$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 — 1220 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot122046070010201190136015506969
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FICO 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

spot122046070010201190136015501616
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot460958145619542452295083%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot4607001020119013601550+$72K$72K
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
0.82-0.347800.00081.52-0.35-0.18
0.80-0.368000.00081.62-0.37-0.20
0.78-0.388200.00091.71-0.39-0.22
0.72-0.438800.00111.97-0.44-0.29
0.69-0.449000.00112.04-0.45-0.31
0.67-0.459200.00122.11-0.46-0.34
0.62-0.479600.00122.21-0.48-0.39
0.57-0.4810000.00132.28-0.50-0.44
0.54-0.4810200.00132.30-0.50-0.47
0.52-0.4810400.00132.31-0.50-0.49
0.49-0.4810600.00132.32-0.50-0.52
0.48-0.4810700.00132.31-0.50-0.53
0.47-0.4810800.00132.31-0.50-0.55
0.45-0.4811000.00132.29-0.50-0.57
0.42-0.4711200.00132.27-0.50-0.59

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot46086010601230146020405640
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

spot460780940114013201990658658
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 11K call contracts, 9K 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: FICO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk