Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:29 PM ET

JEPQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$58.47
Max pain · Fri, May 21$60+2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.45±9.3% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI1.531K puts / 670 calls
Call wall$62largest call OI
Put wall$53largest put OI
IV3015.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$57Kper 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, Nov 20$60+2.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$58-0.8%54d
Fri, Jan 15$59+0.9%82d
Fri, Feb 19$60+2.6%117d
Fri, May 21$60+2.6%208d
Fri, Jan 21$57-2.5%453d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot60495358626771$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, May 21

spot604954586266362362
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JEPQ 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

spot604954586266127127
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot49525659636620%12%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 14.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spot4954586266+$67K−$67K
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
0.99-0.00500.01040.00-0.01-0.21
0.96-0.00520.03860.03-0.01-0.28
0.92-0.01530.06430.05-0.01-0.32
0.86-0.01540.08620.07-0.01-0.37
0.78-0.01550.10490.11-0.01-0.43
0.69-0.01560.10760.13-0.01-0.49
0.59-0.01570.10200.15-0.01-0.56
0.49-0.01580.09550.15-0.01-0.63
0.40-0.01590.08780.15-0.00-0.69
0.32-0.01600.07760.14-0.00-0.76
0.25-0.00610.06630.13-0.00-0.81
0.19-0.00620.05560.11-0.00-0.85
0.15-0.00630.04600.10-0.00-0.88
0.12-0.00640.03800.09-0.00-0.91
0.10-0.00650.03140.07-0.00-0.93

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

spot4051566166756K0
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

spot2546525864708K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 48K call contracts, 25K 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: JEPQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk