Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 2:03 AM ET

FRVO max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.05
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$15+65.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.8±53.0% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.412K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV30101.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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$12.5+38.1%29d
Fri, Dec 18$15+65.7%57d
Fri, Jan 15$12.5+38.1%85d
Fri, Mar 19$15+65.7%148d
Fri, Apr 16$15+65.7%176d
Thu, Jun 17$10+10.5%238d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1531426374960$12M$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, Apr 16

spot152.5101522.540602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FRVO 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

spot152.5101522.540601313
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot31426374960169%91%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 97.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 402.5101522.54060+$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
0.98-0.002.50.00860.01-0.00-0.04
0.91-0.0050.02900.01-0.00-0.11
0.77-0.017.50.05340.02-0.01-0.26
0.67-0.0190.06150.02-0.01-0.36
0.61-0.01100.06410.03-0.01-0.42
0.56-0.01110.06510.03-0.01-0.47
0.49-0.0112.50.06450.03-0.01-0.55
0.43-0.01140.06240.03-0.01-0.61
0.39-0.01150.06040.03-0.01-0.65
0.36-0.01160.05830.02-0.01-0.68
0.32-0.0117.50.05500.02-0.01-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 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

spot5101520355546K0
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

spot17.51420356048K48K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 104K call contracts, 31K 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: FRVO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk