Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 9:45 AM ET

LINE max pain

Spot (delayed)$35.09
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$45+28.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.13±14.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.383K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3041.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$47Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22.5

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$35-0.3%28d
Fri, Dec 18$50+42.5%56d
Fri, Jan 15$45+28.2%84d
Fri, Apr 16$35-0.3%175d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4520406080100120$55M$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot4520355575951155K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LINE 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

spot45203555759511511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2036526884100150%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 22.52035557595115+$89K−$89K
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
0.97-0.00200.00580.01-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.0022.50.00960.02-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.01250.01550.02-0.01-0.10
0.81-0.01300.03680.04-0.01-0.22
0.55-0.01350.06440.07-0.01-0.47
0.25-0.01400.05400.05-0.01-0.76
0.11-0.01450.02860.03-0.00-0.90
0.06-0.01500.01530.020.00-0.95
0.03-0.00550.00910.01—-0.97
0.02-0.00600.00580.01—-0.98
0.01-0.00650.00400.01—-0.98
0.01-0.00700.00290.01—-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot204060801001205K0
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

spot17.5305070901105K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 3K 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: LINE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk