Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:07 AM ET

FLNC max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.61
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$15+167.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.5±80.2% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.4511K puts / 25K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3089.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$16Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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$8+42.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$6+7.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$9+60.4%81d
Fri, Feb 19$11+96.1%116d
Fri, May 21$7+24.8%207d
Fri, Jan 21$15+167.4%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1511019273645$54M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot1515152535455K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FLNC open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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 21

spot151515253545203203
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot11019273645158%93%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 102.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 151515253545+$5K−$5K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99—10.00710.000.00-0.02
0.940.0020.01930.01-0.00-0.07
0.89-0.0030.03210.01-0.00-0.12
0.83-0.0040.04250.02-0.00-0.18
0.77-0.0050.05000.02-0.00-0.25
0.67-0.0070.05850.02-0.00-0.35
0.56-0.00100.06220.03-0.00-0.48
0.50-0.00120.06200.03-0.00-0.56
0.43-0.00150.06000.03-0.00-0.64
0.39-0.00170.05820.02-0.00-0.69
0.34-0.00200.05510.02-0.00-0.76
0.32-0.00220.05310.02-0.00-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot191725334120K0
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

spot191725334124K24K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 150K call contracts, 56K 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: FLNC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk