Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:46 AM ET

GRAL max pain

Spot (delayed)$132.62
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$55-58.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$88.5±66.7% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.311K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3091.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$122Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22.5

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$130-2.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$120-9.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$65-51.0%81d
Fri, Apr 16$105-20.8%172d
Fri, Jan 21$55-58.5%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot552064108152196240$59M$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

spot55205085120155190428428
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GRAL 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

spot5520508512015519077
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot2064108152196240121%76%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 78.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 22.5205085120155190+$21K−$21K
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
0.79-0.031000.00240.42-0.04-0.21
0.78-0.031050.00250.44-0.04-0.23
0.76-0.031100.00260.45-0.04-0.24
0.74-0.031150.00270.47-0.04-0.26
0.73-0.041200.00280.48-0.04-0.28
0.71-0.041250.00290.50-0.04-0.29
0.70-0.041300.00290.51-0.04-0.31
0.68-0.041350.00300.52-0.04-0.33
0.67-0.041400.00310.53-0.04-0.34
0.65-0.041450.00310.54-0.04-0.36
0.64-0.041500.00320.55-0.04-0.37
0.62-0.041550.00320.56-0.04-0.39
0.61-0.041600.00330.56-0.04-0.40
0.59-0.041650.00330.57-0.04-0.42
0.58-0.041700.00340.57-0.04-0.43

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.525651051451856640
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

spot2.525701151602101K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 7K 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: GRAL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk