Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:22 PM ET

JD max pain

Spot (delayed)$25.3
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$28+10.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.31±13.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.4593K puts / 208K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3037.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$629Kper 1% move

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, Oct 30$26+2.8%4d
Fri, Nov 6$27+6.7%11d
Fri, Nov 13$27+6.7%18d
Fri, Nov 20$25.5+0.8%25d
Fri, Nov 27$27+6.7%32d
Fri, Dec 4$30+18.6%39d
Fri, Dec 18$29+14.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$28+10.7%81d
Fri, Mar 19$28+10.7%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot28152637485970$554M$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 — 28 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2815222936436534K34K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JD 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

spot281522293643651K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot152637485970111%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot152229364365+$1.3M−$1.3M
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
0.96-0.00180.01670.01-0.00-0.04
0.94-0.00190.02370.01-0.00-0.06
0.91-0.00200.03290.02-0.01-0.09
0.87-0.01210.04450.03-0.01-0.13
0.82-0.01220.05800.03-0.01-0.18
0.76-0.01230.07240.04-0.01-0.25
0.68-0.01240.08530.04-0.01-0.33
0.58-0.01250.09410.05-0.01-0.43
0.49-0.01260.09690.05-0.01-0.53
0.40-0.01270.09360.05-0.01-0.62
0.32-0.01280.08560.04-0.01-0.71
0.25-0.01290.07510.04-0.01-0.78
0.20-0.01300.06410.03-0.01-0.84
0.15-0.01310.05370.03-0.01-0.89
0.12-0.01320.04460.02-0.01-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1724262830334K0
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

spot132226.530.5374565K65K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 527K call contracts, 313K 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: JD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk