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

LH max pain

Spot (delayed)$323.13
Max pain · Fri, May 21$330+2.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$49.8±15.4% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI1.5235 puts / 23 calls
Call wall$360largest call OI
Put wall$250largest put OI
IV3029.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$104per 1% move · flip ≈ $380

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

spot330220252284316348380$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 — 330 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot3302202502803103403701111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LH 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

spot33022025028031034037011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot22025228431634838034%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 380220250280310340370+$4K−$4K
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
0.91-0.012500.00220.39-0.03-0.09
0.89-0.022600.00270.47-0.03-0.11
0.86-0.022700.00340.56-0.04-0.15
0.82-0.032800.00400.65-0.04-0.19
0.77-0.042900.00470.74-0.05-0.23
0.72-0.043000.00530.83-0.05-0.29
0.66-0.053100.00580.90-0.05-0.35
0.60-0.053200.00620.95-0.06-0.41
0.54-0.053300.00650.97-0.06-0.48
0.48-0.053400.00660.98-0.06-0.55
0.41-0.053500.00640.96-0.06-0.62
0.36-0.053600.00620.92-0.05-0.69
0.30-0.053700.00580.86-0.05-0.75
0.26-0.043800.00530.80-0.04-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 17 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