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

FROG max pain

Spot (delayed)$101.66
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$52.5-48.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.95±26.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.251K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$95largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3084.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$293Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $32.5

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$90-11.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$85-16.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$52.5-48.4%81d
Fri, Mar 19$80-21.3%144d
Thu, Jun 17$90-11.5%234d
Fri, Dec 17$45-55.7%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot52.515426996123150$26M$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 — 52.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot52.51537.557.577.597.5135706706
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FROG 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

spot52.51537.557.577.597.5135915915
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot15426996123150231%68%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 71.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 32.517.54057.57592.5120+$74K−$74K
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
0.77-0.0782.50.00830.15-0.07-0.23
0.74-0.07850.00890.15-0.07-0.25
0.71-0.0787.50.00940.16-0.07-0.28
0.69-0.07900.00980.17-0.07-0.31
0.66-0.0892.50.01020.17-0.08-0.33
0.63-0.08950.01060.18-0.08-0.36
0.60-0.0897.50.01090.18-0.08-0.39
0.58-0.081000.01110.19-0.08-0.42
0.52-0.081050.01140.19-0.08-0.47
0.47-0.081100.01140.19-0.08-0.53
0.41-0.081150.01130.19-0.08-0.58
0.37-0.081200.01090.18-0.08-0.63
0.32-0.071250.01040.17-0.07-0.68
0.28-0.071300.00980.16-0.07-0.72
0.24-0.061350.00920.15-0.07-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 44 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot154060801001402K0
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

spot15355575951302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 7K 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: FROG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk