Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 11:56 PM ET

KEYS max pain

Spot (delayed)$314.77
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$330+4.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$58.9±18.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI2.86849 puts / 297 calls
Call wall$330largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3052.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$159Kper 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$330+4.8%27d
Fri, Dec 18$330+4.8%55d
Fri, Jan 15$330+4.8%83d
Fri, Feb 19$350+11.2%118d
Fri, May 21$340+8.0%209d
Fri, Jan 21$350+11.2%454d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot330200268336404472540$6M$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 — 330 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot330200270310350390430149149
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KEYS 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

spot3302002703103503904304848
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot20026833640447254064%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot200270310350390430+$65K−$65K
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
0.93-0.072200.00160.21-0.07-0.07
0.91-0.082300.00190.25-0.08-0.09
0.88-0.102400.00240.30-0.10-0.12
0.78-0.142700.00380.45-0.14-0.22
0.74-0.152800.00420.49-0.15-0.26
0.69-0.162900.00460.53-0.16-0.31
0.64-0.173000.00500.56-0.17-0.36
0.59-0.173100.00520.59-0.17-0.42
0.53-0.173200.00540.60-0.18-0.47
0.48-0.173300.00540.60-0.18-0.53
0.43-0.173400.00540.59-0.17-0.58
0.38-0.163500.00530.57-0.17-0.63
0.33-0.153600.00510.55-0.16-0.68
0.29-0.143700.00480.52-0.15-0.72
0.25-0.133800.00440.48-0.14-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1051602103003904802K0
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

spot1051501952803704602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 9K 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: KEYS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk