Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:22 PM ET

GEN max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.41
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$25+2.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.9±24.2% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI1.191K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$28largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3052.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$9Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $16

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$23-5.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$26+6.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$26+6.5%81d
Fri, Apr 16$25+2.4%172d
Fri, Dec 17$20-18.1%417d
Fri, Jan 21$18-26.3%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25152025303540$2M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot251520253035355355
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GEN 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

spot2515202530352929
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot15202530354075%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 161520253035+$7K−$7K
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
0.90-0.00170.02170.03-0.00-0.10
0.87-0.00180.02650.04-0.01-0.13
0.84-0.01190.03170.04-0.01-0.17
0.80-0.01200.03690.05-0.01-0.21
0.75-0.01210.04190.05-0.01-0.25
0.71-0.01220.04640.06-0.01-0.30
0.66-0.01230.05020.06-0.01-0.35
0.60-0.01240.05310.06-0.01-0.41
0.55-0.01250.05490.07-0.01-0.46
0.49-0.01260.05570.07-0.01-0.52
0.44-0.01270.05550.07-0.01-0.57
0.40-0.01280.05430.06-0.01-0.63
0.35-0.01290.05240.06-0.01-0.68
0.31-0.01300.04980.06-0.01-0.72
0.27-0.01310.04680.06-0.01-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1419242934405K0
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

spot1017222732375K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 26K call contracts, 13K 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: GEN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk