Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 1, 1:05 AM ET

FMC max pain

Spot (delayed)$6.17
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$7.5+21.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.68±43.4% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.632K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3081.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

Event risk before this expiration: 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$5-19.0%19d
Fri, Dec 18$5-19.0%47d
Fri, Jan 15$10+62.1%75d
Fri, Apr 16$7.5+21.6%166d
Fri, Jan 21$10+62.1%446d
Fri, Jan 19$5-19.0%810d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.53712162125$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot7.52.57.512.517.522.51K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FMC open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot7.52.57.512.517.522.51K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot3712162125179%78%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 86.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 7.52.57.512.517.522.5+$3K−$3K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.002.50.02480.00-0.00-0.05
0.74-0.0050.09820.01-0.00-0.26
0.45-0.007.50.12080.02-0.00-0.54
0.27-0.00100.09700.01-0.00-0.72
0.17-0.0012.50.07080.01-0.00-0.82
0.11-0.00150.05200.01-0.00-0.88
0.08-0.0017.50.03930.01-0.00-0.91
0.06-0.00200.03060.01-0.00-0.94
0.05-0.0022.50.02440.00-0.00-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 strikes around the money — all 10 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.517.532.547.562.5805K0
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

spot2.517.532.547.562.58025K25K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 67K call contracts, 48K 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: FMC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk