Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 6:54 PM ET

GRMN max pain

Spot (delayed)$293.95
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$280-4.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$36.95±12.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.72581 puts / 809 calls
Call wall$280largest call OI
Put wall$250largest put OI
IV3045.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$282Kper 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$280-4.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$240-18.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$280-4.7%81d
Fri, Feb 19$300+2.1%116d
Fri, Apr 16$290-1.3%172d
Fri, May 21$300+2.1%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot280150198246294342390$8M$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 — 280 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot280150175200250300350319319
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GRMN open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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 15

spot28015017520025030035099
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot15019824629434239072%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 160150175210260310360+$199K−$199K
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 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.032200.00180.14-0.04-0.05
0.93-0.042300.00250.18-0.04-0.07
0.90-0.052400.00350.24-0.05-0.10
0.86-0.062500.00460.31-0.07-0.14
0.80-0.082600.00570.39-0.08-0.20
0.73-0.092700.00680.45-0.10-0.27
0.66-0.102800.00770.51-0.11-0.34
0.58-0.112900.00830.54-0.11-0.43
0.49-0.113000.00860.55-0.11-0.51
0.41-0.113100.00840.54-0.11-0.60
0.33-0.103200.00800.50-0.10-0.68
0.26-0.093300.00720.45-0.09-0.75
0.20-0.073400.00620.39-0.07-0.81
0.15-0.063500.00520.32-0.06-0.86
0.11-0.053600.00420.27-0.05-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1001551902403003606950
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

spot1001401802403204002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 4K 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: GRMN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk