Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 6:12 AM ET

LYTS max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.76
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$17.5-15.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.2±20.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.477 puts / 15 calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3069.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$160per 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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$20-3.7%23d
Fri, Jan 15$17.5-15.7%79d
Fri, Apr 16$20-3.7%170d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.5182023252830$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot17.517.52022.5253055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LYTS 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

spot17.517.52022.5253055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot182023252830114%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 66.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 2017.5202530+$106−$106
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
0.75-0.0117.50.04790.03-0.01-0.24
0.60-0.01200.07140.04-0.01-0.39
0.41-0.0122.50.07720.04-0.01-0.58
0.28-0.01250.06140.03-0.01-0.72
0.16-0.01300.03630.02-0.01-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot17.52022.52530110
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

spot7.512.517.522.530401111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 34 call contracts, 7 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: LYTS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk