Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:17 AM ET

FLY max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.21
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$20+9.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.48±30.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.229K puts / 38K calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3099.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$203Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $19

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 30$19+4.3%5d
Fri, Nov 6$19+4.3%12d
Fri, Nov 13$20+9.8%19d
Fri, Nov 20$22+20.8%26d
Fri, Nov 27$18-1.2%33d
Fri, Dec 18$17-6.6%54d
Fri, Jan 15$20+9.8%82d
Fri, Feb 19$15-17.6%117d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2052239567390$189M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot20519283644605K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FLY 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

spot20519283644603030
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot52239567390136%62%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 80.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 1982029374565+$58K−$58K
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
1.000.0050.00080.000.00-0.00
0.98-0.0080.00680.01-0.00-0.02
0.94-0.01100.01460.01-0.01-0.06
0.86-0.0112.50.02760.02-0.01-0.14
0.79-0.01140.03540.03-0.01-0.20
0.75-0.01150.03990.03-0.01-0.25
0.70-0.02160.04370.03-0.02-0.30
0.62-0.0217.50.04770.03-0.02-0.37
0.55-0.02190.04980.03-0.02-0.45
0.50-0.02200.05020.04-0.02-0.49
0.46-0.02210.04990.04-0.02-0.54
0.40-0.0222.50.04850.03-0.02-0.60
0.34-0.02240.04610.03-0.02-0.66
0.31-0.02250.04410.03-0.02-0.69
0.28-0.02260.04200.03-0.02-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 47 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1417.52022.525297860
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

spot3152128406014K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 98K call contracts, 35K 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: FLY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk