Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 11:57 PM ET

GH max pain

Spot (delayed)$165.12
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$145-12.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$53.4±32.3% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.2025 puts / 122 calls
Call wall$165largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3065.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$16Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $160

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$170+3.0%35d
Fri, Jan 15$160-3.1%91d
Fri, Mar 19$150-9.2%154d
Fri, Apr 16$145-12.2%182d
Fri, May 21$140-15.2%217d
Thu, Jun 17$120-27.3%244d
Fri, Dec 17$90-45.5%427d
Fri, Jan 21$55-66.7%462d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14585118151184217250$1M$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot145851051251601802207474
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GH 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

spot1458510512516018022011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot8511815118421725068%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 16085105125160180220+$11K−$11K
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
0.87-0.031150.00300.25-0.04-0.13
0.85-0.041200.00330.28-0.05-0.15
0.83-0.041250.00360.30-0.05-0.18
0.72-0.061450.00480.39-0.06-0.28
0.70-0.061500.00510.41-0.07-0.31
0.67-0.061550.00530.43-0.07-0.34
0.64-0.071600.00550.44-0.07-0.37
0.61-0.071650.00560.45-0.07-0.40
0.58-0.071700.00580.46-0.07-0.43
0.56-0.071750.00580.47-0.07-0.46
0.53-0.071800.00590.47-0.07-0.48
0.50-0.071850.00590.47-0.07-0.51
0.47-0.071900.00600.47-0.07-0.54
0.42-0.072000.00590.46-0.07-0.60
0.33-0.062200.00550.43-0.06-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1537701151602108970
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

spot1537701151602104K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 12K 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: GH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk