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

FMC max pain

Spot (delayed)$6.17
Max pain · Fri, Jan 19$5-19.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.95±80.2% by Fri, Jan 19
Put/Call OI0.251K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3081.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7Kper 1% move

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

spot53711151923$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot52.57.512.517.522.5866866
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FMC open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 19.

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 19

spot52.57.512.517.522.5253253
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot3711151923124%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 87.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot2.57.512.517.522.5+$2K−$2K
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 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.930.002.50.02010.01-0.00-0.09
0.80-0.0050.04070.02-0.00-0.21
0.68-0.007.50.05380.03-0.00-0.33
0.58-0.00100.06040.03-0.00-0.44
0.49-0.0012.50.06260.03-0.00-0.55
0.42-0.00150.06210.03-0.00-0.64
0.36-0.0017.50.06010.03-0.00-0.73
0.32-0.00200.05720.030.00-0.81
0.28-0.0022.50.05400.03-0.00-0.88

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

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