Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:42 AM ET

GOGO max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.19
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$3+37.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.7±77.6% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.21192 puts / 903 calls
Call wall$3largest call OI
Put wall$3largest put OI
IV30100.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$444per 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$3+37.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$0.5-77.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$3+37.0%81d
Fri, Feb 19$1-54.3%116d
Fri, May 21$2-8.7%207d
Fri, Jan 21$3+37.0%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3148121620$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 — 3 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot30.51.5371217223223
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GOGO 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

spot30.51.53712173030
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot159121620155%91%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 96.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot0.51.5371217+$116−$116
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
0.980.000.50.02260.000.00-0.04
0.930.0010.05760.00-0.00-0.10
0.85-0.001.50.09970.01-0.00-0.17
0.77-0.0020.13960.01-0.00-0.26
0.63-0.0030.17600.01-0.00-0.42
0.49-0.0050.15950.01-0.00-0.58
0.45-0.0070.14060.01-0.00-0.64
0.42-0.00100.12370.01-0.00-0.70
0.41-0.00120.11640.01-0.00-0.72
0.40-0.00150.10870.01-0.00-0.75
0.40-0.00170.10490.01-0.00-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 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

spot0.53715253K0
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

spot0.53712223K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 2K 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: GOGO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk