Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 31, 11:51 PM ET

LYB max pain

Spot (delayed)$68.3
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$65-4.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.2±13.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.8524K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3039.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$460Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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$65-4.8%19d
Fri, Dec 18$60-12.2%47d
Fri, Jan 15$65-4.8%75d
Fri, Mar 19$67.5-1.2%138d
Thu, Jun 17$62.5-8.5%228d
Fri, Sep 17$62.5-8.5%320d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6523467093117140$84M$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot6522.54057.575951304K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LYB 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

spot6522.54057.575951302828
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot23467093117140134%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot22.54057.57595130+$300K−$300K
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
0.95-0.01500.00780.03-0.01-0.07
0.93-0.0152.50.01110.04-0.01-0.09
0.90-0.02550.01510.05-0.02-0.12
0.85-0.0257.50.01960.07-0.02-0.17
0.79-0.03600.02420.09-0.03-0.22
0.73-0.0362.50.02840.10-0.03-0.28
0.65-0.03650.03160.12-0.03-0.36
0.56-0.0367.50.03360.12-0.03-0.44
0.48-0.03700.03390.12-0.03-0.52
0.40-0.0372.50.03270.12-0.03-0.60
0.33-0.03750.03040.11-0.03-0.68
0.27-0.0377.50.02730.10-0.03-0.74
0.21-0.02800.02390.09-0.02-0.79
0.17-0.0282.50.02060.08-0.02-0.84
0.14-0.02850.01750.07-0.02-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 38 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot22.547.562.577.5951255K0
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

spot22.54057.5759513020K20K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 40K call contracts, 66K 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: LYB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk