Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:07 AM ET

LFMD max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.13
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$3+40.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.75±35.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.04795 puts / 20K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$3largest put OI
IV3092.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$14Kper 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$3+40.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$4+87.8%53d
Fri, Jan 15$3+40.8%81d
Fri, Feb 19$4+87.8%116d
Fri, May 21$4+87.8%207d
Fri, Jan 21$5+134.7%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot31356810$9M$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 — 3 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot31357108K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LFMD 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

spot313571022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1356810192%91%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 93.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot135710+$7K−$7K
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
0.94-0.0010.09320.00-0.00-0.07
0.67-0.0020.42670.00-0.00-0.35
0.33-0.0030.37010.00-0.00-0.70
0.22-0.0040.24570.00-0.00-0.82
0.17-0.0050.18410.00-0.00-0.87
0.14-0.0060.14890.00-0.00-0.90
0.12-0.0070.12630.00-0.00-0.92
0.11-0.0080.11050.00-0.00-0.93
0.09-0.00100.08990.00-0.00-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1357910K0
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

spot135791212K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 35K call contracts, 7K 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: LFMD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk