Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 12:43 AM ET

INBX max pain

Spot (delayed)$95
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$60-36.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$31.4±33.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.15619 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3092.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$251Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

Event risk before this expiration: 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$95+0.0%23d
Fri, Dec 18$110+15.8%51d
Fri, Jan 15$60-36.8%79d
Fri, Feb 19$85-10.5%114d
Fri, May 21$95+0.0%205d
Fri, Dec 17$90-5.3%415d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6034894139185230$54M$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot602.52565105145185586586
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)INBX 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

spot602.525651051451852020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot34894139185230356%81%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 89.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 407.53575115155195+$47K−$47K
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
0.88-0.05600.00410.09-0.06-0.12
0.85-0.06650.00500.10-0.06-0.14
0.82-0.07700.00590.12-0.07-0.18
0.78-0.08750.00680.13-0.08-0.22
0.73-0.08800.00770.14-0.09-0.26
0.69-0.09850.00840.16-0.09-0.31
0.64-0.09900.00900.17-0.09-0.35
0.59-0.10950.00940.17-0.10-0.40
0.55-0.101000.00970.18-0.10-0.45
0.50-0.101050.00980.18-0.10-0.50
0.46-0.101100.00970.18-0.10-0.54
0.42-0.101150.00950.17-0.10-0.58
0.38-0.101200.00930.17-0.10-0.62
0.34-0.091250.00890.17-0.09-0.65
0.31-0.091300.00860.16-0.09-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 47 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot7.530751151551956120
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

spot2.522.560100140180619619
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 1K 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: INBX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk