Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 11:13 PM ET

INSP max pain

Spot (delayed)$72.66
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$60-17.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.9±24.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.43388 puts / 271 calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3078.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$11Kper 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$50-31.2%28d
Fri, Dec 18$80+10.1%56d
Fri, Jan 15$60-17.4%84d
Fri, Feb 19$75+3.2%119d
Fri, Mar 19$40-44.9%147d
Fri, May 21$65-10.5%210d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot602340587593110$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot6022.5406080100124124
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)INSP 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

spot6022.540608010011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2340587593110158%62%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 9022.5406080100+$5K−$5K
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
0.93-0.02400.00370.04-0.02-0.06
0.91-0.02450.00520.06-0.03-0.09
0.87-0.03500.00710.07-0.03-0.13
0.82-0.04550.00940.09-0.04-0.17
0.77-0.04600.01190.11-0.04-0.23
0.69-0.04650.01440.12-0.05-0.30
0.61-0.05700.01650.13-0.05-0.38
0.53-0.05750.01760.14-0.05-0.47
0.44-0.05800.01770.14-0.05-0.56
0.37-0.05850.01680.13-0.04-0.63
0.30-0.04900.01530.12-0.04-0.70
0.25-0.04950.01370.11-0.04-0.75
0.21-0.041000.01220.10-0.03-0.79
0.18-0.041050.01070.09-0.03-0.82
0.16-0.031100.00950.08-0.03-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2550751001251502950
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

spot22.55590125160195435435
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 2K 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: INSP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk