Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:01 AM ET

GERN max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.13
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$1-11.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.6±53.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.3014K puts / 48K calls
Call wall$1.5largest call OI
Put wall$1largest put OI
IV3087.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$17Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $1

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$1.5+32.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$1-11.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$1-11.4%81d
Fri, Mar 19$1-11.4%144d
Thu, Jun 17$3+165.7%234d
Fri, Jan 21$1-11.4%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1123467$22M$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 — 1 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot10.51.52.53.54.55.515K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GERN 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

spot10.51.52.53.54.55.5100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot123467380%91%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 150.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 10.51.52.53.54.55.5+$12K−$12K
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
0.94-0.000.50.16650.00-0.00-0.07
0.70-0.0010.67620.00-0.00-0.32
0.37-0.001.50.72500.00-0.00-0.66
0.24-0.0020.50000.00-0.00-0.80
0.18-0.002.50.37430.00-0.00-0.86
0.15-0.0030.30130.00-0.00-0.89
0.13-0.003.50.25430.00-0.00-0.92
0.11-0.0040.22160.00-0.00-0.93
0.10-0.004.50.19750.00-0.00-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.51.52.53.54.55.517K0
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

spot0.51.52.53.54.55.518K18K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 56K call contracts, 16K 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: GERN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk