Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:44 PM ET

LSTR max pain

Spot (delayed)$165.79
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$135-18.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.7±13.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.33136 puts / 413 calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$135largest put OI
IV3035.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$44Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

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$170+2.5%26d
Fri, Dec 18$175+5.6%54d
Fri, Jan 15$135-18.6%82d
Fri, Apr 16$160-3.5%173d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot135105146187228269310$3M$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 — 135 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot135105135175200250310200200
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LSTR 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

spot13510513517520025031011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot10514618722826931072%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 120105135175200250310+$47K−$47K
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
0.97-0.021050.00160.05-0.02-0.03
0.94-0.031200.00320.09-0.03-0.06
0.92-0.031250.00400.11-0.03-0.07
0.90-0.031300.00500.13-0.03-0.09
0.88-0.041350.00620.16-0.04-0.12
0.85-0.041400.00770.19-0.04-0.15
0.75-0.051500.01120.25-0.05-0.24
0.47-0.061700.01530.32-0.06-0.53
0.40-0.061750.01480.31-0.06-0.60
0.34-0.061800.01380.29-0.06-0.67
0.29-0.051850.01250.27-0.06-0.72
0.24-0.051900.01120.25-0.05-0.77
0.17-0.042000.00860.20-0.05-0.84
0.13-0.042100.00660.17-0.04-0.89
0.09-0.032200.00510.14-0.03-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1051501852102503002000
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

spot100130160190240300200200
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 426 call contracts, 291 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: LSTR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk