Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:09 AM ET

LAZR max pain

Spot (delayed)$33.65
Max pain · Fri, May 21$35+4.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.55±37.3% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.9888 puts / 90 calls
Call wall$41largest call OI
Put wall$33largest put OI
IV3065.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$202per 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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$42+24.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$35+4.0%53d
Fri, Feb 19$35+4.0%116d
Fri, May 21$35+4.0%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35202938475665$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot3520333741485050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LAZR 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

spot35203337414811
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot20293847566567%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 252033374148+$1K−$1K
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
0.89-0.01200.01020.05-0.01-0.10
0.80-0.01250.01640.07-0.01-0.19
0.69-0.01300.02170.09-0.01-0.31
0.64-0.01320.02320.09-0.01-0.36
0.61-0.01330.02380.10-0.01-0.38
0.59-0.01340.02430.10-0.01-0.41
0.56-0.01350.02460.10-0.01-0.43
0.54-0.01360.02490.10-0.01-0.46
0.52-0.01370.02500.10-0.01-0.48
0.49-0.01380.02510.10-0.01-0.50
0.47-0.01390.02500.10-0.01-0.53
0.45-0.01400.02490.10-0.01-0.55
0.43-0.01410.02470.10-0.01-0.57

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2036404448601810
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

spot203338434855181181
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 459 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: LAZR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk