Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 6:12 PM ET

GFS max pain

Spot (delayed)$46.69
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$45-3.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.55±35.4% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI8.1611K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3068.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$353Kper 1% move

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$45-3.6%24d
Fri, Dec 18$45-3.6%52d
Fri, Jan 15$50+7.1%80d
Fri, Mar 19$45-3.6%143d
Fri, Apr 16$45-3.6%171d
Thu, Jun 17$45-3.6%233d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45233548607385$23M$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot4522.53550658010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GFS open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 17.

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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot4522.53550658099
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot23354860738564%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot22.535506580+$363K−$363K
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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95—22.50.00380.03-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.00250.00530.04-0.01-0.06
0.88-0.01300.00860.07-0.01-0.12
0.80-0.01350.01200.10-0.01-0.19
0.72-0.01400.01480.12-0.01-0.27
0.63-0.02450.01670.14-0.02-0.36
0.55-0.02500.01760.15-0.02-0.45
0.47-0.02550.01770.15-0.02-0.53
0.40-0.02600.01710.14-0.02-0.61
0.34-0.02650.01610.14-0.01-0.67
0.29-0.02700.01490.13-0.01-0.73
0.25-0.01750.01370.12-0.01-0.78
0.21-0.01800.01240.11-0.01-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot17.53560851107K0
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

spot17.535608511018K18K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 48K call contracts, 55K 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: GFS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk