Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 2:06 PM ET

ICE max pain

Spot (delayed)$163.04
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$155-4.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.6±10.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.534K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$155largest put OI
IV3028.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.9Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $150

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, Oct 23$157.5-3.4%today
Fri, Oct 30$160-1.9%7d
Fri, Nov 6$155-4.9%14d
Fri, Nov 13$155-4.9%21d
Fri, Nov 20$160-1.9%28d
Fri, Nov 27$150-8.0%35d
Fri, Dec 18$145-11.1%56d
Fri, Jan 15$155-4.9%84d
Fri, Mar 19$165+1.2%147d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15575114153192231270$81M$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 — 155 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot155751051351651952502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ICE 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

spot1557510513516519525055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot7511415319223127089%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 15075105135165195250+$836K−$836K
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
0.94-0.021300.00470.10-0.02-0.06
0.91-0.021350.00630.13-0.02-0.09
0.88-0.031400.00840.16-0.03-0.12
0.84-0.031450.01100.20-0.03-0.17
0.78-0.041500.01390.23-0.04-0.23
0.70-0.041550.01670.27-0.04-0.30
0.61-0.051600.01900.30-0.05-0.40
0.52-0.051650.02020.31-0.05-0.50
0.42-0.051700.01980.31-0.05-0.60
0.33-0.041750.01820.28-0.04-0.69
0.25-0.041800.01590.25-0.04-0.77
0.20-0.031850.01340.22-0.04-0.83
0.15-0.031900.01100.18-0.04-0.89
0.12-0.031950.00890.15-0.03-0.93
0.09-0.022000.00720.13-0.03-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot120141149160172.51901K0
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

spot70120141152.5177.52105K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 32K call contracts, 16K 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: ICE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk