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

INBX max pain

Spot (delayed)$95
Max pain · Fri, May 21$95+0.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$49.05±51.6% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.0924 puts / 259 calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3092.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

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

spot957090110130150170$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 — 95 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot95701001151301551706363
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)INBX 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

spot957010011513015517022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot709011013015017094%85%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 88.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 10070100115130155170+$4K−$4K
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
0.80-0.04700.00420.20-0.04-0.20
0.74-0.04800.00500.23-0.05-0.26
0.65-0.05950.00580.27-0.05-0.35
0.62-0.051000.00600.27-0.05-0.39
0.59-0.051050.00620.28-0.06-0.42
0.56-0.061100.00630.28-0.06-0.45
0.53-0.061150.00640.29-0.05-0.47
0.51-0.061200.00640.29-0.05-0.50
0.48-0.061250.00640.29-0.05-0.53
0.46-0.061300.00640.28-0.05-0.56

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 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

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