Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 8:15 PM ET

LI max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.26
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$15+33.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.1±18.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.4017K puts / 43K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3050.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$46Kper 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$12+6.6%3d
Fri, Nov 6$11-2.3%10d
Fri, Nov 13$11.5+2.1%17d
Fri, Nov 20$11-2.3%24d
Fri, Nov 27$11-2.3%31d
Fri, Dec 4$14+24.3%38d
Fri, Dec 18$13+15.5%52d
Fri, Jan 15$15+33.2%80d
Fri, Mar 19$12+6.6%143d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1531120283745$80M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1531015223513K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LI 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

spot153101522358585
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot31120283745182%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot310152235+$43K−$43K
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
0.99—30.00220.00-0.00-0.01
0.980.0050.00760.00-0.00-0.01
0.96-0.0070.02360.00-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.0080.04500.01-0.00-0.07
0.86-0.0090.08150.01-0.00-0.14
0.74-0.01100.12140.02-0.01-0.26
0.60-0.01110.14840.02-0.01-0.40
0.45-0.01120.15250.02-0.01-0.56
0.32-0.01130.13660.02-0.01-0.69
0.22-0.01140.11170.02-0.01-0.79
0.15-0.00150.08630.01-0.00-0.87
0.11-0.00160.06500.01-0.00-0.92
0.08-0.00170.04920.01-0.00-0.95
0.06-0.00180.03820.01-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot6810.512.514.5181K0
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

spot38.512.516.520.52721K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 83K call contracts, 58K 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: LI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk