Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:44 AM ET

GT max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.28
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$7+63.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.93±21.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.0829K puts / 27K calls
Call wall$7largest call OI
Put wall$6largest put OI
IV3054.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$79Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $4

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$5+16.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$7+63.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$7+63.6%81d
Fri, Apr 16$6+40.2%172d
Fri, Dec 17$5+16.8%417d
Fri, Jan 21$7+63.6%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7159121620$27M$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 — 7 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot7147101512K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GT 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

spot71471015600600
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot159121620200%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 41471015+$42K−$42K
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
0.98-0.0010.01350.00-0.00-0.02
0.94-0.0020.04440.00-0.00-0.05
0.87-0.0030.12900.00-0.00-0.13
0.66-0.0040.32270.01-0.00-0.34
0.35-0.0050.30240.01-0.00-0.66
0.20-0.0060.19740.01-0.00-0.80
0.14-0.0070.13460.00-0.00-0.88
0.10-0.0080.09680.00-0.00-0.92
0.07-0.0090.07270.00-0.00-0.95
0.06-0.00100.05640.00-0.00-0.97
0.04-0.00110.04480.00-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot147101510K0
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

spot147101531K31K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 74K call contracts, 104K 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: GT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk