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

JEPQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$58.47
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$57-2.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.73±14.9% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.355K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$67largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3015.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $59

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

spot57303948576675$15M$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 — 57 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot573046515661664K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JEPQ open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 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, Jan 21

spot573046515661663838
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot30394857667539%13%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 15.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 59304651566166+$373K−$373K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.970.00510.03120.03-0.00-0.38
0.92-0.01520.05670.05-0.00-0.42
0.86-0.01530.07560.10-0.00-0.46
0.78-0.01540.08140.14-0.00-0.50
0.70-0.01550.07810.16-0.00-0.54
0.63-0.01560.07230.19-0.00-0.59
0.56-0.01570.06990.20-0.00-0.63
0.49-0.01580.06650.20-0.00-0.67
0.42-0.00590.06230.20-0.00-0.72
0.37-0.00600.05770.20-0.00-0.76
0.32-0.00610.05320.19-0.00-0.79
0.27-0.00620.04830.18-0.00-0.82
0.23-0.00630.04340.16-0.00-0.85
0.20-0.00640.03880.15-0.00-0.88
0.17-0.00650.03440.140.00-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 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