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

LYV max pain

Spot (delayed)$173.44
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$175+0.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$29.35±16.9% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI2.46182 puts / 74 calls
Call wall$135largest call OI
Put wall$175largest put OI
IV3034.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$33Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $135

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

spot175100120140160180200$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 — 175 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot1751001301551752006363
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LYV open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot17510013015517520011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot10012014016018020044%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 135100130155175200+$20K−$20K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.011250.00300.16-0.02-0.07
0.91-0.021300.00360.19-0.02-0.09
0.89-0.021350.00440.23-0.02-0.11
0.80-0.031500.00700.34-0.03-0.20
0.76-0.031550.00800.37-0.04-0.24
0.72-0.041600.00880.41-0.04-0.29
0.62-0.041700.01020.46-0.04-0.39
0.57-0.041750.01070.47-0.04-0.45
0.51-0.041800.01090.48-0.04-0.51
0.46-0.041850.01100.48-0.04-0.56
0.32-0.042000.00990.43-0.04-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 13 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