Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:11 PM ET

HAS max pain

Spot (delayed)$118.55
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$97.5-17.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.15±11.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.583K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$105largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3031.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$779Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $90

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$105-11.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$92.5-22.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$97.5-17.8%81d
Fri, Mar 19$100-15.6%144d
Fri, Apr 16$95-19.9%172d
Thu, Jun 17$100-15.6%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot97.5355983107131155$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 — 97.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot97.53552.57087.51101452K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HAS 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

spot97.53552.57087.511014533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot436588110133155118%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 9037.55572.590115150+$382K−$382K
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
0.93-0.0192.50.00640.07-0.02-0.07
0.92-0.02950.00760.09-0.02-0.09
0.90-0.0297.50.00910.10-0.02-0.11
0.87-0.021000.01080.12-0.03-0.13
0.81-0.031050.01470.15-0.03-0.19
0.72-0.041100.01870.19-0.04-0.28
0.62-0.041150.02200.21-0.04-0.39
0.51-0.041200.02340.22-0.04-0.51
0.39-0.041250.02260.21-0.04-0.62
0.29-0.041300.02020.19-0.04-0.72
0.22-0.031350.01690.16-0.03-0.81
0.16-0.031400.01360.13-0.02-0.87
0.11-0.021450.01050.11-0.02-0.91
0.08-0.021500.00810.08-0.01-0.94
0.06-0.011550.00610.07-0.01-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 38 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5067.582.597.51251552K0
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

spot254565851101504K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 23K 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: HAS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk