Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:04 PM ET

LAES max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.57
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$2.5+59.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.46±29.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.039K puts / 313K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$4.5largest put OI
IV3075.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$68Kper 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$2+27.8%5d
Fri, Nov 6$2+27.8%12d
Fri, Nov 13$2+27.8%19d
Fri, Nov 20$1.5-4.2%26d
Fri, Nov 27$1.5-4.2%33d
Fri, Dec 18$1.5-4.2%54d
Fri, Jan 15$2.5+59.7%82d
Fri, Mar 19$2+27.8%145d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2.513691215$248M$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 — 2.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2.50.523.551093K93K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LAES 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

spot2.50.523.55106363
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot13691215243%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 79.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot0.523.5510+$25K−$25K
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
0.97-0.000.50.07140.000.00-0.03
0.86-0.0010.27650.00-0.00-0.13
0.61-0.001.50.61080.00-0.00-0.38
0.34-0.0020.56850.00-0.00-0.65
0.20-0.002.50.39610.00-0.00-0.79
0.14-0.0030.28170.00-0.00-0.85
0.10-0.003.50.21090.00-0.00-0.89
0.08-0.0040.16500.00-0.00-0.92
0.06-0.004.50.13340.00-0.00-0.94
0.05-0.0050.11080.00-0.00-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.51.52.53.54K0
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

spot0.523.5510119K119K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 817K call contracts, 43K 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: LAES workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk