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

GH max pain

Spot (delayed)$165.12
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$55-66.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$81.25±49.2% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.11163 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3065.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$77Kper 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$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

spot553076122168214260$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot553065100135170210238238
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GH open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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 21

spot55306510013517021011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot3076122168214260110%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot3065100135170210+$10K−$10K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.79-0.021300.00270.54-0.03-0.22
0.77-0.031350.00280.57-0.03-0.24
0.76-0.031400.00290.59-0.04-0.26
0.74-0.031450.00300.61-0.04-0.28
0.72-0.031500.00320.63-0.04-0.29
0.70-0.031550.00330.65-0.04-0.31
0.69-0.031600.00340.67-0.04-0.33
0.67-0.031650.00340.68-0.04-0.35
0.65-0.041700.00350.69-0.04-0.37
0.63-0.041750.00360.71-0.04-0.39
0.61-0.041800.00370.72-0.04-0.41
0.60-0.041850.00370.72-0.04-0.43
0.58-0.041900.00380.73-0.04-0.45
0.56-0.041950.00380.74-0.04-0.47
0.55-0.042000.00380.74-0.04-0.49

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 40 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