Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 13, 6:20 AM ET

KAI max pain

Spot (delayed)$266.3
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$320+20.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$45.3±17.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI3.6755 puts / 15 calls
Call wall$300largest call OI
Put wall$270largest put OI
Net GEX−$22Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $270

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Sep 18$290+8.9%5d
Fri, Oct 16$290+8.9%33d
Fri, Jan 15$320+20.2%124d
Fri, Apr 16$250-6.1%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot320150218286354422490$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 — 320 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3201502803103504903535
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KAI 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

spot32015028031035049022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot15021828635442249057%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 270150280310350490+$18K$18K
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
0.98-0.021500.00060.09-0.02-0.02
0.94-0.041850.00170.20-0.04-0.07
0.54-0.092700.00700.62-0.09-0.47
0.47-0.092800.00720.62-0.09-0.54
0.41-0.092900.00700.61-0.09-0.61
0.34-0.083000.00670.58-0.09-0.68
0.29-0.073100.00620.53-0.08-0.74
0.24-0.073200.00560.48-0.07-0.80
0.20-0.063300.00500.43-0.07-0.84
0.13-0.053500.00380.33-0.06-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot150230290330370460520
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

spot1501852403103804505252
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 125 call contracts, 72 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: KAI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk