Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:20 AM ET

IRTC max pain

Spot (delayed)$121.27
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$135+11.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.9±18.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.97226 puts / 233 calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$135largest put OI
IV3050.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$16Kper 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$115-5.2%25d
Fri, Dec 18$125+3.1%53d
Fri, Jan 15$135+11.3%81d
Fri, Feb 19$120-1.0%116d
Fri, Mar 19$130+7.2%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1356592119146173200$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 — 135 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot13565100120140175160160
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IRTC 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

spot1356510012014017511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot659211914617320090%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 9065100120140175+$33K−$33K
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
0.96-0.02700.00200.05-0.02-0.04
0.89-0.04900.00550.11-0.04-0.11
0.85-0.04950.00680.13-0.04-0.15
0.82-0.051000.00840.15-0.05-0.18
0.77-0.061050.01000.18-0.06-0.23
0.71-0.061100.01160.20-0.06-0.29
0.65-0.061150.01310.22-0.06-0.35
0.58-0.061200.01430.23-0.07-0.42
0.51-0.061250.01490.23-0.07-0.50
0.43-0.061300.01500.23-0.06-0.58
0.36-0.061350.01450.22-0.06-0.65
0.30-0.051400.01350.20-0.06-0.71
0.20-0.041500.01080.16-0.05-0.82
0.13-0.031600.00810.13-0.04-0.90
0.11-0.031650.00690.11-0.03-0.93

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

spot601001251501752202810
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

spot5590125160195260281281
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 620 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: IRTC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk