Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 12:41 AM ET

IMO max pain

Spot (delayed)$128.83
Max pain · Fri, May 21$115-10.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25.6±19.9% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.2233 puts / 153 calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3033.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$27Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $135

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+0.9%24d
Fri, Dec 18$135+4.8%52d
Fri, Feb 19$120-6.9%115d
Fri, May 21$115-10.7%206d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot11580101122143164185$1M$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 — 115 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot1158095110125150185120120
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IMO open contracts per strike for Fri, May 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, May 21

spot115809511012515018511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot8010112214316418547%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 1358095110125150185+$24K−$24K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.00900.00360.12-0.01-0.07
0.92-0.01950.00470.16-0.01-0.09
0.89-0.011000.00590.20-0.02-0.12
0.85-0.011050.00730.23-0.02-0.16
0.81-0.021100.00870.27-0.02-0.21
0.76-0.021150.01000.31-0.03-0.26
0.70-0.021200.01110.34-0.03-0.32
0.64-0.031250.01200.36-0.03-0.38
0.52-0.031350.01290.39-0.03-0.51
0.40-0.031450.01260.37-0.03-0.64
0.35-0.031500.01200.36-0.03-0.70
0.15-0.021750.00760.23-0.01-0.92
0.13-0.011800.00670.21-0.01-0.96
0.11-0.011850.00590.18-0.03-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot701101301501701905470
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

spot6085110135160185548548
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 759 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: IMO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk