Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 20, 8:24 PM ET

LH max pain

Spot (delayed)$323.13
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$290-10.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$32.15±9.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.47366 puts / 777 calls
Call wall$340largest call OI
Put wall$290largest put OI
IV3029.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$390Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $210

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$310-4.1%31d
Fri, Dec 18$310-4.1%59d
Fri, Jan 15$290-10.3%87d
Fri, Feb 19$290-10.3%122d
Fri, Mar 19$300-7.2%150d
Fri, May 21$330+2.1%213d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot290170226282338394450$11M$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 — 290 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot290170195240290340410167167
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LH 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

spot29017019524029034041011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot17022628233839445073%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 210170220270320370450+$170K−$170K
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
0.95-0.012500.00180.15-0.03-0.05
0.93-0.022600.00250.20-0.04-0.07
0.91-0.032700.00340.26-0.04-0.09
0.87-0.042800.00460.33-0.05-0.13
0.82-0.062900.00600.41-0.07-0.18
0.75-0.073000.00750.50-0.07-0.25
0.67-0.083100.00890.57-0.08-0.33
0.58-0.093200.00990.61-0.09-0.43
0.48-0.093300.01020.63-0.09-0.54
0.38-0.083400.00980.60-0.08-0.64
0.29-0.083500.00880.55-0.07-0.72
0.22-0.073600.00750.47-0.06-0.80
0.17-0.063700.00620.40-0.05-0.85
0.10-0.043900.00400.27-0.04-0.94
0.06-0.034100.00250.18-0.03-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1702202703203704202110
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

spot150185240310380450783783
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 2K 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: LH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk