Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 8:22 PM ET

LYV max pain

Spot (delayed)$173.44
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$160-7.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.7±11.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.1967K puts / 56K calls
Call wall$180largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3034.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $180

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$172.5-0.5%6d
Fri, Nov 6$170-2.0%13d
Fri, Nov 13$170-2.0%20d
Fri, Nov 20$175+0.9%27d
Fri, Nov 27$165-4.9%34d
Fri, Dec 18$180+3.8%55d
Fri, Jan 15$160-7.7%83d
Fri, Mar 19$180+3.8%146d
Fri, Apr 16$175+0.9%174d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1605598141184227270$519M$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 — 160 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot160559512015018022032K32K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LYV 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

spot1605595120150180220131131
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot5598141184227270113%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 18055100130160190240+$15.4M−$15.4M
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
0.91-0.031400.00530.14-0.03-0.09
0.88-0.041450.00660.17-0.04-0.12
0.84-0.041500.00820.20-0.04-0.16
0.80-0.051550.01000.23-0.05-0.20
0.74-0.051600.01190.27-0.05-0.26
0.68-0.061650.01370.30-0.06-0.32
0.61-0.061700.01520.32-0.06-0.40
0.53-0.061750.01600.33-0.06-0.48
0.45-0.061800.01620.33-0.06-0.56
0.37-0.051850.01570.32-0.06-0.64
0.30-0.051900.01450.29-0.05-0.72
0.24-0.041950.01290.26-0.05-0.79
0.19-0.042000.01120.23-0.04-0.84
0.11-0.032100.00780.16-0.04-0.93
0.07-0.022200.00520.11-0.02-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot130160172.5180187.52004950
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

spot55100145165192.524039K39K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 81K call contracts, 102K 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: LYV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk